Working Vacation
by Fun-Sized Kirk
Summary: Roy and his crew go on a vaction to Resembool for two reasons: Ed's 17th birthday & To investigate a series of terrorist attacks out of their juristiction that will lead them into more trouble than they expected. Royai,EdWin,AlMei
1. Chapter 1

**Okay...so this is my first published Fan Fic...feeling kinda nervous. I've been writting for a while now but I still feel self conscious about how I do even though my friends say that I'm a good writer. Don't be too critical on me but I'm always open to suggestions for the plot.**

**:D**

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"I can't believe we're actually burning vacation days on this." Roy grumbled as he stared out of the train window.

"Oh be quiet Roy. You miss him too. You can't hide it." Riza said in a calm voice without looking up from her book.

"I do not miss that, that _brat. _He was a pain in my side for years and now he's gone! Why would I miss that?"

"Because no matter how much you whine about him you know that you actually like him." Havoc said with a small smirk on his face as he ground out a cigarette on his armrest.

"…shut up," was the only thing that came to Roy's mind.

"Ooh, _good_ comeback." Havoc said in a cocky voice. "That line take you a whole two seconds?"

Roy was about to tell his subordinate to shut up again but in lieu of that, he merely closed his mouth and continued to focus on the blurry landscape that was passing by them.

"Hey, we didn't just come all this way just for the chief's birthday," Breda reminded Roy.

"You're right." Roy said in his usual commanding voice.

They did have more than one intention when they where planning their trip to Resembool. An outbreak of small terrorist crime had begun to form in this area and where now spreading a crossed the country. All of the military facilities whole had researched into the terrorist crimes had deemed them unrelated to others. But Roy had a hunch; one that told him differently, but the crimes where out of his jurisdiction. So, as the team would be believed to be on a vacation, they would be secretly investigating the crimes. There was another bonus to being in Resembool that Roy would not admit out loud or even to himself, but Edward could be used as help in this secret investigation. He did live in the area of where it started, maybe he knew something…

Roy was not aware that he had fallen asleep but as he had woken up some time latter, falling asleep was the only thing that made sense. The loud speaker told him, along with the other occupants of the train, that they would be at Resembool station in ten minutes. Roy began to organize his bags and prepare himself for a week with-

_That insufferable little brat. _

-Edward Elric.

But to Roy's pleasure, that certain blond was not at the station. In his place was his younger brother, Alphonse.

"Hi everyone!" He exclaimed happily as everyone came into view.

"Hello Alphonse." Everyone said in response to the teens greeting.

Alphonse Elric was no longer trapped in a suit of armor, that problem had been resolved almost a year ago. He was now a normal sixteen-year-old with big golden-brown eyes and short golden-brown hair. He had apparently grown some as he was now almost as tall as Roy. Everyone secretly hoped inside that Ed had either grown or had gotten over his height problems so that they wouldn't hear him screeching over it for a week.

"I'll take you guys over to the Inn and then we can go see brother."

"Where is he?" Furey asked.

"He's watching over the store. But come on, it's kinda cold out today."

It actually wasn't that cold, but with the constant wind that was whipping up, standing still began to chill them. They all followed him down the slightly crowded street towards a three-story building.

"Here it is. I have to warm you it's also a tavern so it can be quite loud sometimes."

Al pushed open the door to the Inn and went inside; the rest followed behind him. After entering the building they where greeted with loud calls of hello. After saying his greetings to a few of the bar patrons, Al went up to the front bar to talk to a plump, middle-aged woman. Roy and his crew, unsure of what to do, stood a few feet away from Al. After a moment or two, Al made a motion for them to follow him and the women.

"Hey! Pretty lady! You wanna come party with a real man?" one of the many drunken bar members yelled out to Riza.

Riza heaved a heavy sigh before continuing behind Al. if this had been around Central, her reaction would have been different. She would've likely pulled out the hand gun she kept in her purse and threaten to remove certain body parts, but this was a different place. Not everyone new about scary Lt. Hawkeye, so she decided to behave herself.

Riza turned her back to see Roy practically seething at the man who dared to make a move at _his_ girlfriend. Riza couldn't help but roll her eyes at his behavior before she walked over to Roy and gave his ear a hard tug.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For acting like a child. Now come on. I don't think they'd let us stay here if you torch half of the building." When Roy didn't move, Riza gave his ear another unmerciful tug.

"Ow! Ow! I'm moving!"

Roy's pride did the best it could at blocking out the drunken laughter as he was pulled from the area. After Riza was sure he'd behave, Riza let go. Roy sent a glare towards Havoc and Breda, knowing that they had been snickering like school children.

They traveled to the back of the large room, went through a doorway, and up a staircase. Once reaching the next floor, they turned down a hall and stopped in front of a large wooden door.

"Roy and Riza? This is you're room." said the Lady. "Havoc and Breda, yours is a crossed the hall right here, and Falman and Furey, you're right here." She said motioning to a door next to Havoc and Breda's.

"Thank you." Roy said as he was handed a room key.

"Uh, huh. If you need anything I'll usually be on the first floor."

Roy watched as she walked down the stairs before he made a move to open his room door.

"I'll let you guys unpack." Al said with a smile. "I'll be downstairs waiting for you."

Roy gave him a small smile before putting his key into the lock and opening it.

It wasn't that bad actually. He had stayed at worst places. The hotel room comprised of two rooms. There was one large room that was a bedroom and a sitting room combined. On one side of the room was a king-sized bed, a small night stand with a lamp on top of it, and a large dresser. Closer to the door was a comfy looking couch and a small, wooden coffee table with a radio on it. All of the woods on the furniture where a nice cherry; all of the fabrics where nice neutral colors. The walls where a cream color and the carpeting a soft tan. In between the bed and the couch was a doorway that probably led to a bathroom of sorts. Roy sat his things down on the couch before he walked over to the bed and collapsed.

"Get up and put your things away." Riza said quietly as she began to put away her things.

"But I'm tired." Roy moaned like a small child.

Riza couldn't help but crack a small smile at him before she tossed one of his bags on top of him.

"How are you tired? You've been doing nothing but sitting on your ass for a day."

"Well when you do nothing but sitting at work, it too becomes tiring."

"What about lying down?"

"Nope. It's still just as relaxing as ever…"

Riza ignored the man and continued to put away her things. Only after all of her things where secured did Riza attempt to wake the sleeping beast.

"Roy." She said loudly but gained no response. "_Roy_."

There was still no response. Blowing a few stray hairs out of her face, Riza bent down so that her face was flush with his. After listing to his sleepy breathing for a moment, Riza sighed and said in a completely unenthusiastic voice, "Roy, I want to have sex."

With that, Roy's eyes flew open. Riza, being experienced in this tactic, quickly moved out of the way as to avoid his arms that aimed for her waist.

"Oh, good. You're awake." Riza said with a slight smile as her boyfriend sat up wearing an adorably pouty face. "You can pack latter, let's go downstairs."

"Riza! Why'd you have to do that?!"

"Because that's the easiest way to wake you up."

"Well it's not easy for me!"

"Oh quit you're whining." Riza turned to face the door and smirked when she heard the creaking of bed springs.

Riza paused in front of the door so Roy could wrap his arms around her waist. Roy pulled her close before resting his chin on her shoulder.

"I thought we where on a vacation." He pouted as he kissed her neck softly.

"Yes but we also have other objectives in this vacation." Riza reminded him.

"…but it's still a vacation." He pointed out.

"Yes, and we can relax _latter._ Now come on. They're probably waiting for us."

Roy let go of her and stood there for a moment before following her out of the room and down to the tavern.

Al stood at the bar talking to the rest of Roy's crew. They had probably only beat them down there because they didn't insist on putting away close that they where just going to pack up again in a few days.

"All unpacked?"

"I guess." Roy mumbled while shoving his fists into his pockets.

"Well then let's get going."

Al bid goodbye to the lady from before departing the building. Snow had started to sprinkle down on the group as they walked to their destination. After a few more minutes of walking, Al stopped in font of a two-story, brick building. Large metal letters where attached a crossed the upper front of the building that spelled out: BOOKS.

A large window took up half of the front of the building. In the window where several books of all types held up on small pedestals and a large curtain blocked out what the store looked like from outside. Al pushed open the door and walked inside. As he began to walk towards a large counter he let out a loud sigh before covering his face with one of his hands. Once everyone was inside they realized what had caused this reaction.

The nice, clean counter that had once been organized was now cluttered. A pair of black boots where resting on a pile of documents, their owner longing in a comfy high backed chair. A book covered the persons face, but from the long blond hair that laid haphazardly on his shoulder and the loud snores that erupted from him, there was no question as to who it was.

"Brother…" Al sighed as he removed his face from his face.

"Well, this is a surprise." Roy sarcastically replied with a cocky grin. "Here I thought that Fullmetal would have grown up a little."

Even though Edward wasn't a part of the military anymore, Roy couldn't help but let his old title slip on occasions.

"Yeah, right." Al muttered as he walked over to the counter.

He stared down at his brother for a moment before he gripped the back of the chair and pushed it towards the ground.

"AHHG!"

"Rise and shine!" Al yelled into his ear as Ed tired to untangle himself.

"What the hell was that about?! You could've killed me!"

"Bullshit, you're being over dramatic. But that's what you get when you sleep on the job."

"It's not like I _meant_ to fall asleep! I just did!"

"Yeah, yeah. Get your ass up, we've got company."

Ed looked up from his position on the ground and stared at the new arrivals for a moment before pulling himself off of the floor.

"What's up?" he said as he leaned against the desk with a small smile.

Edward Elric had changed a lot since he had first joined the military. The almost seventeen-year old had grown since they last saw him. He was still an inch or two smaller than Al, but he wasn't exactly short anymore. His long blond hair was held back in a tight pony-tail. His face that had once been round with youth was now more mature looking. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt and black pants along with his old black boots.

"Hi Ed!" Furey said excitedly.

"How's it going chief?" Breda asked while slapping him on the back.

After everyone had said their hellos, Ed's gaze turned to the one man who had not yet spoken up.

"So what's with General bastard's piss-poor attitude?" Ed asked as he stared at his sour expression.

"What you language, Fullmetal."

"I'm not your military dog anymore!"

"Oh right. Well then I guess I'll just have to do with something like _Bean Sprout_."

They all turned there gazes to Ed and waited for the explosion.

"That the best you got old man?"

It was a sign of the apocalypse. Edward didn't blow up when Roy made a comment on his height.

"My, my. Looks like you've finally grown up ehh, _Shrimp._" Roy said with a smirk as he moved closer to the teen.

"I am two fucking inches shorter than you Mustang! Stop acting like I'm a midget!"

"I'll stop once you're actually taller than me. But for right now, Pipsqueak, the key word in your sentence is _shorter._"

"Augh! Just shut up you old fart."

"Old fart…I am _not _old."

"So how old are you?"

"I'm in my early thirties." Roy said with an air of confidence.

"That means you're thirty-nine." Ed sighed.

As their squabbling continued, the group started to branch out and explore the bookstore with interest. The room and its wall where filled with rows of book shelves that reached the ceiling.

Every now and again, they would look up and see if Roy or Ed had decided to end the battle. But of course, they all knew it wouldn't end until they where both blue in the face. And who could blame them? They had a lot of time to make up and this was the only way it seemed they could communicate. Al sighed as he stared at the two grown men before he began to tidy up the messy desk.

'_This is gonna be along week for sure…_' Al thought as he began to feel tired of their yelling.

Little did anyone know, but this 'vacation' would soon turn into to something much more stressful…like a fight for their lives…

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**Dun, Dun, Duh! what's gonna happen? (shrugs) Reveiws make me happy dance! XD**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi everyone! After reading your reveiws I just had to jump up and start typing up the next chapter! I was so pissed that it was only Friday and I had to go to school but at least I got early dismissal today so I could go home earlier and start this right away! I have to thank you guys becasue when I read the reveiws, it felt like my heart exploded...I'm not even kidding, thats how I felt. **

**Oh by the way, in this story I'm going by the manga or the new anime they recently made that _actually_ makes sense. So there a character that you wouldn't know in here if you just watched the crappy 1st anime. Her names Mei, she fron Xing and she's one of, like, twenty-something princesses but her clan's, like, one of the crappiest so she hops the border and goes to live in Amestris. (that's not really the reason but it's just a lot easier to explian) Mei hangs out with this panda that was born with some growth deficency so that it ends up being only the size of a cat and Amestrins have never seen a panda so they all call it a cat. Mei and Ed fight a lot becuse Mei heard of this great alchemist when she came to the country and pictured this kind, handsome, and _tall _person. But when you finds out what Ed's really like she's devistated but then five minutes latter she falls in love with Al. oh and this chic is a total alchemy/ninja badass, so don't mess with her.**

**So, up next-Chapter 2!**

**Enjoy!**

**(I do not own FMA)**

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"Hey! We're home!" Al yelled as he pushed open the front door, everyone following in tow.

"'Bout time you guys showed up." Pinako said from the next room over. "What took you guys so long?"

"Well we would have been home sooner if Mister Maturity here didn't challenge the general to an arm wrestling match." Al sighed as he tossed his coat onto the nearby coat rack.

"It was necessary." Ed growled as he slumped onto the nearby couch.

"Only in your twisted little mind…" Al sighed.

"Hey! Mustang asked for it! He comes walking in with that piss-poor attitude after almost a year and it drove me nuts. I at least expected a day to go by before we where at each others throats."

"Well I say with you two involved, that's a little too much to wish for."

"What do you mean by that?!"

"I mean that you and the general are exactly the same-."

"We are not! Al! I'm offended by that statement! How could you ever compare me to that arrogant, womanizing, pyromaniac, with -?!"

"Yes I know, with a God complex, right?"

Ed stared at his brother with a small smirk on his; face that kid really knew him too well…but then again who else should know what he was going to say?

"Actually, I was going to say with so much ego that if it grew one more nanometer that it would collapse onto itself, creating a black hole, and destroy the universe."

"Wow… where do you even come up with these insults?"

"Why from my genius brain of course."

"Yeah, and you say that Mustangs the arrogant one."

"He is! And here I thought you being my brother would mean that you went on my side."

"Now when did I ever sign that agreement? But you're just further proving my point."

"What point?"

"The one about how you and Mustang are the same."

"I am not-!"

"Ed shut up or else we're just going to be going around in a circle. You're the same because you're both arrogant, hard working, and you never want to lose-."

"But seriously, who wants to lose-?"

"Shut up before I tell Winry that you fell asleep on the job again." Al growled in a threatening voice. "Neither one of you wants to lose to anyone and you especially won't back down from something when the other is involved. I swear, if it wasn't for the fact that Mustang looked nothing like you, I would think he was switched at birth because he can be more like you than me."

"Al, me and you are totally alike! It's just that you got all of the cute, quiet, and adorable-ness while I got all of the badass."

Al stared at his brother in slight disbelief. Did this kid actually believe he wasn't arrogant? Al heaved a heavy sigh through his nose before remembering what his brother had said before.

"I am not adorable." Al grumbled under his breath while folding his arms a crossed his chest.

"Yes you are Al." Winry said as she entered the room.

"What?!"

"You're the most adorable teen aged boy I've ever seen." Winry said with a smirk as she sat down next to Ed on the couch.

Ed turned to stare at his girlfriend with a hint of worry in his eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ed muttered.

Winry turned and stared at him. After a moment a smile crept onto her face before he gave Ed's arm a small punch.

"Relax." Winry moved closer and leaned against his shoulder. "Adorable isn't the same as funny, smart and attractive."

"Good."

Ed grinned his big goofy grin before he turned his head to give her a kiss. The two only broke apart when Al started to make very loud and obnoxious gagging noises.

"Hey, I don't do that when I see you and that midget kissing."

"Mei's not a midget and you better shut up because if she kicks your ass, I'm not going to help you. And yes, you do make gagging noises. All the time."

"Whatever. Hey Win, is dinner ready? I'm starving."

"When aren't you starving?" Al asked.

"It should be done in a minute, that's why I came down here."

Winry got off the couch and walked through the doorway that lead to the kitchen. The two watched her leave before Al slumped down on the couch next to his brother, where they began to talk business.

"So did you check up on that delivery that was supposed to be coming in a few days?" Al asked as he kicked off his shoes.

"Umm…I might've." Ed muttered vaguely.

"Ed! You where supposed to do that two days ago! I swear if it wasn't for me, the store would be nothing but a building. What the hell have you been doing? Sleeping? I doubt it was doing paper work because there's still that huge pile on your desk."

"Maybe…"

"Ed-."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Okay?! Geez, I promise I'll have all my work done by tomorrow."

"You-."

"I actually mean it this time. I promise."

"Alright. I'll only take you up on that because I know a certain someone would be very upset if they learn that you didn't just forget to do you're work, but you went against a promise. Right?"

"Yeah…right." Edward gulped as thought about wrenches.

"So…why are you always so tired?" Al asked with an eerily identical smirk on his face.

"What do you think? I've always slept a lot."

"Yeah, sure. You're just naturally tired all of the time aren't you?" Al said with skepticism.

"What, Al, since you seem to know everything. Enlighten me. Why am I so tired?"

"Well if you ask me…I think it's because you're sneaking into a certain room during the night."

"I-I am not!" Ed sputtered as his face tinged pink.

"Well geez Ed. That reaction tells me clear as day that you're fooling around with Win-."

"Dinners ready!" Winry yelled as she walked through the door bearing a large pot that smelled unmistakably like stew.

Ed jumped over the back of the couch and ran over to Winry as she place the pot on the large kitchen table; Al following right behind in his brother's footsteps.

"Back off Ed!" Winry scolded as his fingers moved slowly towards the ladle. "If you want stew, you're gonna have to help set the table."

Ed let out a small whine as he moved to the cup board where the dishes where held. Together, Ed and Al set the table in record time before they sat down in their respected seats looking like a couple of little kids. Winry gave them a smirk before she, purposely as slow as possible, ladled the soup into theirs bowls.

"Hurry up Granny!" Winry yelled as stew was inhaled into the two men's mouths. "There's not gonna be any left by the time you get here!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Pinako growled as she came hobbling into the kitchen; a prehistoric Den following in her tracks. "I shouldn't matter how long it takes for me to get there because if those two had any sense they would no not to shove all of the food down their gullets before I get any."

"That's what you think." Ed said as he ripped a piece of bread with his teeth.

"You're all talk shrimp." Pinako sighed as she ladled stew into her bowl.

"Shrimp! Like you have any room to talk micro-mini Granny! What are you? A foot tall?"

"Be quiet pipsqueak." She ordered. "I'm trying to eat and all of your yelling is giving me indigestion."

"…Pipsqueak…?" Edward growled as he clenched his spoon tightly.

"Ed calm down. And here I thought you had grown up a little."

"What do you mean?" Winry asked.

"At the store, Mustang and them came and of course, Mustang just had to try and get a rise out of him. And after, he called Ed short, Ed _didn't_ blow up."

"What?!" Winry exclaimed as she almost choked on her stew. "Ed didn't blow up?! Ed are you feeling alright?!"

"Oh shut up! Would it be that much of a surprise if I suddenly grew up?" Ed asked in an extremely agitated voice.

"Yes." Al said.

"Well, duh it's you." Winry muttered as she continued with her stew.

"Oh, Hell yeah." Pinako growled.

"Uh! You guys are all gaining up on me! No fair!"

"Relax Ed; we're just poking fun at you."

"Well how come it's always me?"

"Because you're easy to make fun off." Pinako said.

Ed opened his mouth to give Pinako some sort of snarky comment, but his reply was cut off by the loud hammering on the front door. Ed got up and walked to the door. After he opened the door, he wished that he could've just slammed it in their face.

"I'm sorry little girl but we don't want any of you're cookies."

"Ha, ha very funny." Mei growled as she pushed her way through Ed and into the house.

"Ugh, Al you didn't tall me you invited it over." Ed whined as he closed the door.

"Ed, don't call Mei 'it'!" Winry and Al yelled in unison.

Great. He was outnumbered. Ed heaved a heavy sigh before he returned back to his seat. As he passed by Mei's chair, he aimed a kick for one of the legs but instead of solid wood, he made contact with something sharp.

"Ow!" Ed yelled as he hopped over to his seat to inspect the damage.

There was a small cut on his big toe. Ed turned to glare at the bottom of Mei's chair in time to see a pair of small black feet retreating under the table.

"What is it Ed?" Winry asked as she leaned over his shoulder.

"That damned cat…" Ed growled as he pulled his sock back on.

There was defiantly a bonus to his old automail limbs. If that had happened two years ago, he wouldn't have felt anything and, hopefully, could've taken out that damned thing too.

"Well maybe you shouldn't try to kick people's chair legs out from underneath them." Mei said with a broad smirk on her face.

Ed sent one last glare to Mei before he glared at his brother.

"What?" he asked.

"I really think you need your head checked."

"Huh?"

"How could you even _like_ something like that?"

"Funny." Mei said while sipping her stew. "See I was just about to ask Winry the same exact thing."

* * *

"Why you little…"

* * *

After dinner, they sat around talking for a while until Pinako excused herself to bed and Ed realized that he had promised to catch up and that blasted paperwork.

"I should probably go to." Winry reasoned as Ed left the room. "I have to finish up that leg I've been working on. Night."

"Night." The couple said as they cuddled closer together.

* * *

"Ugh…I have so much work to do…I'm so tired." Ed mumble hours latter as he worked through each paper. "I need more coffee…" Ed muttered as he stared down into his almost empty mug.

As Ed stood up to stretch, he felt several joints and muscles popping. Ed let out s groan before he plopped down onto his bed.

"I need a break."

Ed laid down on to his bed and sighed at the relief it gave to his sore joints. Ed's eyelids snapped open as he felt his body drifting off to sleep.

"Not a good idea…"

Ed turned onto his side and stared up at his old radio that sat on his night stand along with his lamp. He reached up and felt around a few dials and knobs before he found the on switch.

"Music…ugh, not that. Commercials, commercials…more freaking commercials. News…whatever…"

Ed turned the up volume a little more than necessary to keep him awake. It was some general broadcast, nothing very interesting. Ed's tiered mind tuned in and out.

"…_more news on the attacks in the South-East regions…terrorists continue their bombing spree…military officials are being called into the area as we speak…town of…railroads in southern region are being forced to stop for mandatory check…"_

"Terrorists, huh?" Ed's sleepy thoughts drifted off to the people who had come to visited him. "I wonder…"

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**Well...I wonder what Ed's thinking about? Well, I'm not, cause I'm the author-but you guys should be wondering! Anywho, I could've made this longer but for my own selfish reasons(I need reveiws to make me smile and work!!), I put up a new chapter-I'm sure you guys are so mad. :) Well it's the weekend so hopefully I can have a new chapter up by Monday if not sooner! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay so I'm _super_ sorry that I didn't have the time to update this sooner. Let me just say...hectic weekend. On Saturday I thought that I would be able to finish and update it but I ended up being a lot more busy than I thought. I almost had a heart attack beacuse my computer's screwed up and it just decided to start deleting things. The thing that freaked me out the most was the fact that I have a 150+ paged novel that I've been working on for NaNoWriMo (national novel writing month...look it up) that I thought had been deleted. So needless to say, I was a little bit destracted for a while, but don't worry. Everything's safe and sound on my flash drive so I shouldn't have to deal with any more scares like that. But now that I'm just about 100% sure as to where this story's going, I should update a lot more often, especially with two weeks of no school coming up. XD**

**And theaterinspired** **yes, Ed is back in his real body. Flesh and bone. Sorry if I wasn't clear with that.**

**Hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

**P.S. Sorry if there are a bunch of spelling errors and such. I quickly wrote the second half after school today because I have a school band concert in like an hour and I had to update this as soon as I could because I felt guilty about promising you guys a chapter Monday. (*hint* to gat me to update fsater, give me tons of reviews.)**

**(I don't own FMA)**

"Roy Mustang, get your ass out of bed!" Riza yelled as she tried to pull her unconscious boyfriend out of their bed.

Riza turned to look at the men who had gathered around the hotel room door. They all wore sheepish expressions and refused to make eye contact.

"What did you guys do?" she asked in a low voice.

"Uh, well…you see…" Havoc attempted but soon faltered after making eye contact with Riza.

"You guys where supposed to be doing research into the attacks."

"We never said that we didn't research into the attacks." Breda said quickly.

"Yeah, but…" Furey started.

"But what?" Riza growled.

"B-but, uh, Mustang kinda heard that the area had a pretty good, um alcoholic collection…" Falman stuttered as he stared at an area above Riza's head.

"So you gut him wasted?" Riza asked in disbelief, knowing just how much alcohol it took to get him into a drunken state.

"Um, clarification, he got _himself_ drunk." Havoc replied.

"Havoc!" Riza growled at Havoc's smart-ass response.

"Sorry!"

"Alright, so you let him get_ himself_ drunk?"

"…Maybe."

Riza let out a noise that could only be described as the sound a cat makes while being run over by a semi. She was furious, and it was understandable. She asked these usually competent officers to do something useful, but instead they get drunk. But she wasn't only furious at the men, no, she was furious at herself. Riza was furious for believing they could get a little work done while she took a much needed rest. Riza should've done it herself; she shouldn't have let herself indulge into her weakness.

"Ugh…I'll just deal with it myself, I guess." Riza muttered in a slightly too loud voice. "I did want to go talk to Winry, _but _I guess I'll just have to work…" Riza finished her sentence with a small smirk on her face that none of the men could see. Some years ago, Riza did not believe in guilt trips: but some days, it seemed to be the only way to get the men to work.

"No, no Riza-we'll get right to it!" Furey exclaimed, clearly wrought over with guilt.

"Yeah, we can get it over lunch or something." Breda said.

"Alright," Riza sighed before she turned to her other problem. "Now what do we do with this guy?"

"Um, bucket of cold water?" Furey suggested.

"Air-horn?' Falman said while scratching his head.

"Air-horn." Havoc and Breda said while smiling evilly.

"Well, does anyone have an air-horn?"

"Actually, I do have one." Havoc replied.

"Some how, that doesn't surprise me."

"I'll go get it then." Havoc said brightly as he left the hotel room.

"That man sure is weird…" Riza muttered as she shook her head; but then again, owning an air-horn was probably one of the lesser weird things he owned.

Havoc returned five minutes latter, an air-horn in each hand and a large, child-like smile on his face.

"So, let's get to it." He said, happiness threatening to exploded out of him.

"Give me one." Riza ordered as she held out her hand.

Havoc complied and put one in her out stretched hand. The two positioned themselves so that each air-horns where close to both of Roy's ears. The other men quickly surrounded the bed, hands firmly clamped over their own ears.

"Alright, so on the count of three." Havoc said as he held up three fingers.

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

…It was hard to believe that two air horns could make such a loud noise. When Havoc and Riza pressed down onto the air-horn, the loud noise sent Roy springing out of the bed and out onto the floor, taking Havoc out in the process.

"What the hell was that for!?" Roy yelled while he tried to untangle him self from his bedding until his hangover hit him.

"That's the least that you should get." Riza growled. "You where supposed to be doing your work. Not inhaling all of the alcohol in the east!"

"Oww…please stop…yelling…" Roy moaned pathetically as he curled into a small ball.

"Why should I? You mention the word 'vacation' and all of a sudden they don't listen…" Riza muttered angrily as she watched the two moving lumps in the pile of bedding.

"Hey, give Mustang some credit." Havoc said as he finally emerged from his blanket cocoon. "He made sure that we did some of it before we even thought of doing anything else."

"Oh thank you so much for doing some of it before you got completely wasted like a bunch of frat kids." Riza said with acid dripping off her tongue.

"…we're sorry…" all of the able-bodied men said in a quiet voice while they wore expressions of extreme apology.

Riza stared at them for a minute before she let out a heavy sigh. Riza realized that, if possible, she shouldn't have any children because she already had five little boys to look after.

"We'll get the rest of it done really soon." Furey said in earnest with the others quickly nodding their heads behind him.

"Alright…well lets deal with this problem first." Riza said motioning over her shoulder to her unconscious commanding officer and boyfriend.

* * *

"Hey birthday boy!" Winry said while pounding a gloved fist onto his bedroom door. "Edward! Are you even alive in there? You've already missed breakfast!"

When there was no answer, Winry gripped the door knob, and opened the door. The scene before her made a smile tug in her lips

"Ed…"

Ed sat at his desk, sprawled over his desk, scattering papers and folders all over the surrounding area; the radio on his night stand was on, but the volume was too low to understand what they where saying. Winry stepped over the empty bottles, boxes, clothes, and all over boy-junk that littered the bedroom floor, and walked over to Ed.

"Ed…" Winry said as she gently shook his shoulders. "Oh, Eeeed."

"…mmm monkey stole my money…" He muttered into his arm.

Winry quickly covered her mouth with her mouth to stop the giggles that threatened to break forth. Once she was sure she was under control, Winry gripped his shoulders again and gave him a rougher shake.

"Come on Ed! You can't sleep all the way through your birthday!"

Winry had to give him a shake that almost ripped him out of his seat before he woke up.

"Huh…was' up Win…" he yawned as he stretched his arms above his head.

"What's up? It's your birthday idiot! Now get up before you sleep through all of it!"

"'Kay, okay…I'm getting up…" he muttered a he curled back up in his seat.

"No you aren't"

"Really? I thought I was…"

"Get up you lazy piece of flesh!"

"I'm not lazy! I was up all night doing work. Now let me sleep…so what if it's my birthday…how many people actually celebrate their birthday on their_ actual_ birthday anyways?"

"You do. So get up!"

Winry tugged him once more. This time, she actually got him out of his chair. But the stableness of a person who had just woken up is to be questioned, because the second Ed was pulled up, he immediately fell onto the floor…pulling Winry with him.

Ed stared as his girlfriend raised herself up and stared back into his eyes. Ed smirked as he felt a faint blush creep a crossed his cheeks.

"You plan on giving me my present right now? Mind you I haven't showered or brushed my teeth yet."

"Oh you wish." She muttered as she pulled herself off of Ed.

"Hey where are you going?" Ed asked as he snaked one of his hands around his waist and pulled her back down on top her. "I didn't say you could leave yet."

"Since when have I ever listened to you?"

"You've got a point there. But it's my birthday."

"Hmm," Winry mumbled with a look of fake concentration on her face. "I _guess_ I could give you an extra birthday present…"

"You're too kind."

Ed snaked his other hand so that it was set on in the middle of her back, giving her a slight pressure to move closer to him. As their lips where about to touch-

"Good Morning Birthday Boy!" Al yelled as he pushed open the door.

Ed and Winry froze as Al stared at the two of them, a coy smile playing on his face.

"Well, do you want me to put a do not disturb sign on the door? So not to traumatize Granny once you engage into your 'Birthday Sex'?"

"Al! Go!" Ed roared, face bright red.

When did his little brother, young, innocent Al, get such a dirty mind? Ed had to remind himself that his brother was now sixteen; a maturing teenaged boy. Al managed to leave the room before the bottle Ed had thrown had hit its' target.

"Ugh…I should probably take my shower now…" Ed muttered into the hand that was covering his face, now that all romance in the room had been blow away like a breeze from the hall.

"Yeah…" She said as she picked herself off of the ground.

Winry's face was still quite red with embarrassment, but she ignored it. She got up and walked to the half opened doorway. Leaving Ed, sprawled on the floor, face bright red, and surrounded by papers and books. Winry let out a small chuckle before she left the room.

* * *

"Happy Birthday Edward!" everyone cheered as Ed blew out his candles with a small blush on his face.

"Thanks, everyone."

"Open your presents!" Al yelled.

"Alright, alright…"

Over all, Ed received several books on alchemy from Xing, Creta, and Aerugo, a new chess set with the pieces carved into military members' appearance,(Ed and Roy where the Kings, duh…) and a dart board; something that he had used to pass the time while stuck at a military facility. After opening all of his gifts, he smiled at everyone.

"Thanks, these are all great!"

"You're welcome Ed."

"Let's cut the cake now!" Al yelled, having been eyeing the delicious home made cake since it hit the table.

"Okay, let's cut it before Al pounces on it and we don't get any at all." Mei said while Winry was standing behind Al, while waving around a large cutting knife, as if it was a silent threat not to jump on the cake.

Everyone dug into the delicious red velvet cake with gusto. The pieces and second pieces of cake where consumed within moments of them hitting the plate, leaving their owner groaning out of mixture wanting more and a stomach ache.

After cake, the chess set was taken out and wasn't put away until several hours latter when Breda and Ed called it quits after several stalemates.

"Thanks everyone for coming." Ed sighed as he lay on the couch, exhausted.

"Bye Ed!"

"See ya later Chief!"

"Good bye!"

As Winry and Al began to clean up the table Ed walked up to his room. Once inside his room, he went to his desk and grabbed a file that was about to burst with papers along with his customary red coat. After he had all that he needed, Ed went down stairs.

"Where are you going Ed?" Winry asked as she scrubbed a dish at the sink.

"The store." He answered as he pulled on his coat. "I have to go and finish some thing up before the weeks over."

"Alright. Well I'll see you later then." She said with a smile.

"Hey, where'd Al and the Gremlin go off to?"

"There in his room and stop calling Mei names."

"That's not fair! You guys call me names all the time! What's so special about that little parasite that's currently imbedded in my dear brothers neck?"

"Edward." Winry growled. "Mei's an exception because shse's not family like you are."

"Well with the way they go at it she'll be family pretty soon. But anyways, I got to go. See ya."

"Bye."

Ed closed his jacket as a strong wind blew passed him. Resembool didn't usually get snow, but it sure could get cold at night time. The streets where almost empty, allowing Ed to get to his destination without having to stop and chat.

Ed went to the side of the building where there was a side door. He pulled out a key and went inside. Ed quickly climbed the small staircase and unlocked the door that was to his left once he reached the landing (the one to the right was a small bathroom).

Ed flicked on the light switch, revealing a mixture of a loft and an office. When him and Al where busy, they often spent their nights here. On the far corner was a large desk with two chairs pulled up to it; a tall lamp stood next to the desk. In the corner stood an over flowing trash can; paper balls where surrounding it. On the opposite side of the room stood a beat up, king-sized futon with a ball of waded up sheets sitting on it. Like Edward's bedroom, this room's floor was covered in similar things.

A large window occupied much of the wall that the bed was pressed against. Another door was placed directly a crossed from the bed. In that room was a small kitchen-y area that was home to an old wash tub, a small cup board that held a few dishes, a hot plate and a coffee maker. Ed rubbed the back of his head and sighed. He should really clean this place up before they had a pest problem, but now was not the time. Ed walked over to his desk, sat down, and began to work on the pile of papers that was ready to topple over.

Ed was a few documents into his work when some screaming from outside caught his attention. Ed decided to abandon his work for a moment so he could open the window and tell whoever was making such a racket to shut the hell up.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the right place to do this boss?" Havoc asked as he looked over his shoulder nervously.

"Well where else are we supposed to do it?"

"At the hotel maybe." Riza growled as she felt a shiver go through her body.

At the moment, Roy and his crew where standing outside in a deserted alley way. They where getting ready to talk about the information they where able to dig up during the day.

"The hotel is a crowded place. The terrorist could be sitting in there and they could over hear us."

"How could they?" Riza asked in a slightly grumpy tone. "I could barley hear myself think in that place, let alone hear someone talk from a crossed the room."

"And when you think about it, someone passing by on the streets is more likely to here us talk than someone sitting a few feet away from us at a tavern." Falman said.

"Well, I'm the commanding officer and I say that this is where we'll meet so there!" Roy said while staking his claim like a five year old on the playground.

"I think the cold has gotten to your brain." Havoc muttered as he lit up a cigarette.

"Shut up! I don't see you coming up with any good ideas!"

"Well I would if you even listened! Why the hell is it a good idea to stand in the freezing cold talking about things that should be discussed in a safer area?!"

"Well-!"

"Everyone shut up!" Riza roared as she pulled out her pistol and pointed it at the two bickering men. "If you keep screaming like that someone will likely hear us! So shut up before I make you shut up!"

"R-right…"

"S-sorry Riza."

"Alright. Now let's get this over with before we get the flu."

"Okay." Roy began. "So as I was trying to say beforehand-."

"HEY!" came a shout from above them.

They all look up to see a young man's head peeking out of the window. Long blond hair fell over the person's shoulder.

"Ed…ward?' Roy asked quietly.

"What the hell are you doing out there?! Trying to wake up the whole village?!"

"W-well what are you doing?" Roy asked, while trying to take the blame off of himself. "Who's house is that and why aren't you at home?!"

"This is my store jackass! Now how about you guys come inside before you all get sick."

* * *

**So I just have to say that I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Hopefully my computer will behave and I'll have the next chapter up soon.**

**Bye! Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm Back! Okay so instead of doing an annoying English paper that's due tomorrow, I decided to finish up the last few pages of the chapter. So I hope you enjoy. I would have had this up earlier but I had a little trouble with the plot, but I made everything work and so, here it is!**

**(I don't own FMA)**

"What the hell are you guys doing out here?" Ed asked in an annoyed tone as he opened up the side door to let them inside.

"We can discuss that later." Roy muttered as he walked inside.

"Oh, you'll discuss this in a dark alley but not in a doorway?" Ed asked as he moved his foot in front of Roy so he would trip and fall.

"Ed…" Roy growled from his spot on the floor.

"What?" he asked, acting innocent.

Roy glared at Ed as he got up off of the ground, hoping that his dignity was still in tack. Once everyone was inside, Ed shut and locked the door before walked back upstairs; the others following in his footsteps. Before the others had made it to the room, Ed busied himself by quickly shoving the piles of garbage into corners and other hiding places.

"So…" Edward began once everyone had found a spot in the dingy room; Ed currently sat on his desk, legs dangling over the edge. "Can you tell me what you guys where doing out there _now_?"

"Well I don't know…" Havoc began with his usual smart-ass smirk on his face. "I think this place is a little too safe. What do you think Must-?"

"Havoc! I swear to God if you don't shut up soon I will blow your ass up." Roy growled as he made reach for his pocket that held his infamous ignition gloves.

"Alright, sorry."

"So, let me asked you something? Why do you think we're really here?"

"You mean you're not here to help me celebrate another happy birthday?" Ed asked with disgusting amount of fake sweetness in his voice. "Well I can guess it has something to do with the attacks going on in the nearby towns. Am I right to assume that the reason you're here on a 'vacation' is because this case is out of your jurisdiction?"

"Well once again you've hit the nail on the head." Roy sighed, not the least bit impressed that Ed had figured it out.

"So I'm guessing you've been out and about trying to see if anyone knows anything."

"Right again."

"So what have you found out?"

"Not much…" Roy said in a tired voice.

He then looked at the other men with small ounces of hope in his eyes. The others shook there heads slowly, none of them meeting his eyes.

"Well why are you going through so much trouble with this?" Ed asked. "It's not like this is the first attack on this country. And the attacks aren't even that bad. They're more of just a nuisance. Only one or two people have died, right?"

"Well mister Tight-Lipped here just says that he has a theory." Breda said while jerking a thumb towards Mustang.

"So only Mustang knows…?" Ed asked in disbelief.

"It was precautionary."

"Yeah but how can you tell them to go out and get information when they don't know what they're supposed to get information on!? You make no sense. I seriously think you're getting like, Dementia or something."

"Oh shut up…well I guess I should have told them…" Roy muttered to himself.

"Congratulations, you finally figured out how to do something the right way." Ed said as he started to kick his legs against the desk in a rhythmic pattern.

"I wasn't talking to you!" Roy expelled a loud sigh before continuing on in his most professional voice. "These attacks have been occurring for almost six months now. First the damage would be nothing more than a small, uninhabited building being demolished, along with some surrounding land. Nothing much. The local townspeople would blame the acts on local teens since the charge was equal to a few cherry bombs. No one really paid attention to these acts until the first casualties. But even when several people where hospitalized for these attacks, no one looked into the matter."

"So…you're looking into a matter that could just be a couple of hooligans who are trying to be all big and bad?" Havoc asked, staring at Mustang with a perplexed expression.

"No. Because I believe that this is something more. If the attacks where centered in one minor area and all of the attacks where similar, then yes, this could simply be a case of some rowdy teens. But that is not the case. All a crossed the country, small blasts are going off and they are causing more and more collateral damage."

"They're also annoying the local populace, of course." Riza added on.

"So…you investigating into small explosions that are really only pissing people off?" Ed asked as he tried to get his thought s together.

"But when people are annoyed and have no one to complain to, who will they go and whine to?" Roy asked.

"…the government." Furey answered.

"Right. The other sectors are flooded with complaints but for some reason, none of the bombs have gone off near Central. And if we don't start getting complaints from the people near us, then will probably have to deal with complaints that have been delegated towards us."

"Well that sure does suck Mustang." Ed said bluntly as he thought of how happy he was that he wasn't in the military anymore. Ed could see himself being shipped off to some random town to try and solve who was causing the explosions.

"Yes Edward, it does suck."

"What about your theory?" Falman asked.

"Oh, right. Well, when we were leaving Central, I had a thought. All over the country there's bombing. And if somebody is setting off that many explosives, where are they getting the money?" Roy paused for a moment to let it sink in before he continued. "I have noticed a trend occurring over the past year. Even though Chimera creations have been banned, there is a sudden increase in Chimera's running lose."

"But how does creating Chimeras give someone enough money for this kind of operation?" Ed asked.

"That's where my theory comes in. Since the ban on Chimera creating has been passed, laboratories all over the country have been inspected, leaving little room for a Chimera to be created."

"Well yes that is a good idea Mustang. But these people are only checking recognized labs; there are tons of other places to create Chimeras." Ed said remarked. "Hell, you know that if I wanted to, I could easily create a Chimera in the stores basement.

"Yes, that is right. But not everyone would be as capable as you would. Most humans would probably succumb to their own egos and blab about making a Chimera in their own basement. And even if they were able to keep it a secret, I doubt that the average person would be able to keep something that powerful and dangerous under control."

"So…what are you saying exactly?" Havoc asked while scratching his head, completely confused.

"He's saying that because we're quite sure that no official laboratories are creating Chimeras and the fact that not everyone is capable of creating a Chimera in their basement means that the numbers of places that could be creating them are narrowed down considerably." Riza answered promptly.

"So why are we talking about illegal Chimeras?" Breda asked, being just as confused as Havoc.

"Because maybe, and it's a pretty big maybe, but someone could be creating and _selling_ Chimeras."

"And the money that somebody gets from selling them to people could be used to fund money for explosives." Ed said, piecing the pieces together. "You're right, that is a pretty big maybe."

"But it's the only clue we have."

"All of this started in a town not far from here. Why don't you go and check it out?" Ed suggested. "It'd make more sense to actually go to the place where it all started then wasting your time here questioning people who don't really care. I mean, you guys coughed up the gifts, your cover was blown, I think you can stop pretending this is just a vacation now and go get some work done."

"Well that will have to wait until tomorrow." Roy said needlessly.

"Hey, Mustang." Ed said as a thought suddenly occurred to him.

"What?"

"Al was just in that town a few weeks ago."

"Really? Why?"

"Ehh, businesses stuff. But maybe he heard something or saw someone."

"Well call him up and tell him to get over here." Roy ordered.

"Alright." Ed muttered as he glanced at the clock on his desk.

It was just passed eleven o'clock. Al would almost defiantly be up still, and if he was asleep…well Ed was sure Winry could wake him. Ed grabbed the phone and quickly dialed the number he knew by heart.

"_Hello?"_ Al answered after the third ring.

"Al. Get over to the store." Ed ordered not bothering with greetings.

"_Why? Is something wrong? Or did you just want me to see that you finally finished you're paper work?"_

Ed glanced at his still impressive amount of undone paperwork that lay next to him on his desk. Well…he could always get the rest of it tomorrow night.

"No, nothing's wrong. I can't discuss it over the phone but just get over here as soon as you can, alright?"

"_Okay. I'll be over there in ten minutes or so."_

"'Kay. See ya soon."

"_Bye." _

Once the line clicked off Ed placed the phone back into its' cradle before turning his gaze onto the other occupants of the room.

"He's on his way over." Ed answered.

"Hopefully he knows something useful so we don't have to go on another trip." Havoc muttered as he took another drag from his cigarette.

"But even if he did see or hear something it's probably best for us to go over to that town anyways." Riza said as she snatched Havoc's half used cigarette from in between lips and mashed in under the sole of her shoe, much to Havoc's displeasure.

"Hey! Why'd you do that?"

"Because we had a rule to not smoke in the office."

"Yeah but this isn't the office!"

"But it is an office. So that means that the rule is now in effect."

"Aww, come on! I really needed that!"

Eight minutes latter, there was a loud banging on the side door of the building. Ed rushed downstairs to let Al inside. After spending a few minutes explaining what information and theories they had, they asked Al if he knew anything.

"Hmm…All I really remember is seeing a lot of pissed off people. Lots of the buildings in the town had markings of explosions. I didn't hear anything except that the government was useless and whoever was in charge of this should get off there fat asses and get to work."

"…thanks for that last part Al." Roy muttered as he glared at his shoes.

"Sorry I wasn't that much of a help."

"It's alright Alphonse. We would need to go there anyways."

"So you're leaving tomorrow?" Al asked.

"Yes."

"Well than I should warn you that if you go you won't get a very warm welcome. Many of them hate anyone involved in the military."

"How much do they hate us?" Roy asked.

"Uh, so much that they would rather Al go over there instead of me just because I was in the military." Ed said as he remembered the time he went to the neighboring town a few months ago.

"Well that sounds just great." Havoc muttered. "So we'll defiantly be able to go and not get bitched out. It's not like we have a famous General in our midst's or anything."

"Damn…" Roy muttered as he ran his hands through his hair.

"Well why don't you just go and bring Al to break the ice." Ed suggested.

"Why me?' Al asked while sending a look at his older brother.

"Because we just established the fact that they like you better."

"But if they need to split up then one of us can go with each of them so that we can calm down the locals and get twice as much work done." Al theorized.

"Hmm…that does seem like a good idea." Riza commented.

"What!? I don't want to have to go!" Ed protested.

"Too bad Ed. If you're willing to through me under the bus just because you don't want to do this than I think you should go too."

"But-!"

"Edward." Riza said cutting Ed off. "You did say before you left Central that if we ever needed your help, you'd help us. Right?"

"…how do you even remember that? Hell, you could just be making this up because I sure as hell don't remember saying anything like that!"

"Oh be quiet Shrimp!" Roy growled. "You're going. End of story. It should only take a day and then you can go back to your mundane life of bookselling."

"Fine! I'll do it. But if you even whine about me being there, I'll kick you so hard that their will be no possiblilty of you ever producing."

"Well then some people might say that you where doing the world a favor." Havoc muttered. "There shouldn't be that much ego in one world."

Mustang turned to Havoc and gave him a look that could peel paint. Havoc quickly scouted his chair farther away from Roy.

"Y-you know that I was kidding. Right? Um…Roy?" Havoc let out a small yelp when he saw Roy's hands travel to the pocket that he kept his ignition cloth gloves in.

"Mustang! If you burn anything in my store you're playing for it!" Ed roared.

"Why do I have to pay? You could fix it in a second."

"That doesn't matter! Now put them away before I make you!"

"Oh you think you can _make_ me? Well bring it on Shorty."

"UGH! Shut up about my God-Damn height you egotistical bastard!"

* * *

**Alrighty so I really wanted to stop at another point in the story, but I decided instead of one really long chapter, I'd give you one that's my usual length and then another that's probably going to be a bit shorter.**

**Hopefully I'll update a lot over the next two weeks because my last day before winter break in this Friday so...I can't wait to spend a large portion of that time here, in front of my computer living off of Blue Ramen and Cherry Coke.**

**BYE!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone! Winter Vacation is here and I am excited!**

**Okay everyone. Three reveiws. Pathetic. If you want me to write I need more than that. Do you want me to go on strike? Cuz' I will. This chapter I want at least four. FOUR! I know you guys can do that! I know you're out there not reveiwing! I have no problem with stopping for a while, I could use a break. (evil grin)**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter. :)**

**(I don't own FMA)**

* * *

No one left the store until dawn started to break over the gentle slopes. Roy and his crew retuned back to their lodgings at the Inn, while Ed and Al tottered home for an hour or two of nap before they would have to meet up again.

The house was already held a buzz of noise to it. Winry was up; either that or she hadn't fallen asleep yet. Pinako's foot steps could be heard throughout the house. Edward sighed in relief of finally being able to get some sleep before he slowly stumbled up the stairs to his room. Ed didn't bother with his clothes; he fell, fully clothed onto his bed. Ed let out a loud, long yawn before he rolled onto his back and fell asleep.

* * *

"Ugh…Why are we even doing this for that bastard?" Ed yawned as he sat down on one of the benches that where dispersed around the train station.

"Because he asked for our help." Al answered as he sat down next to his brother after handing him a Styrofoam cup filled with hot coffee.

"He did not ask! You threw me under the bus and let him run over me!"

"Well…if you look between the lines I'm sure he's asking for help."

"You'd need a pretty strong microscope to see those words in that conversation." Ed muttered as he sipped his coffee.

Minutes passed as they sat there. Even though it was still pretty early, many townspeople were awake and working. Ed finished the second half of his coffee in one large gulp before he crushed the cup in his hand and tossed it into a nearby trash can.

"Hey did you ask Mei or someone to come to the store later?" Ed asked.

"Yeah…she's coming around nine."

"Good." Ed pulled out a pocket watch from his pocket and stared at the time. "When are they getting here?"

"What are you worrying about? The train isn't leaving for another half an hour?"

"Yeah but I want to stop sitting out in the cold!"

"Relax."

"Since when have I relaxed?"

"Good point."

Fifteen minutes later, Roy and the rest of them showed up at the train station.

"Took you guys long enough." Ed growled as they came closer to him and Al.

"Well sorry Edward." Roy said in a tone that carried not one once of remorse.

"Let's just get on the train."

After buying all of their tickets, they boarded the near empty train. Ed and Al took seats in the very back. Roy and Riza sat a few rows a head of them. Havoc, Breda, Falman, and Furey sat in between the two groups and quickly engaged into a furious game of cards.

"Hey Al."

"Huh?"

"How long does it take to get there?"

"Hmm…half an hour, forty minutes."

"Great…" Ed muttered into the window pane; his breath fogging up the glass.

After a few minutes of waiting, the train left the station and started for its' destination. They had the cabin completely to themselves, allowing the group to converse to each other without the fear of being over heard by nearby people.

"So do you think we'll actually get any good information out of those people?" Breda asked some tome later.

"Maybe…" Roy answered while not looking up from his book.

"You never know." Riza said. "Some of the townspeople could be good to us but then again the people might run us out of town the second they find out who we are."

"I just hope we can get this over with in one sitting." Ed muttered. "I don't really fell like being dragged into this mess."

"None of us do but it's our job." Roy said.

"No. It's _your _job. I was just dragged into this mess."

"Yes but I you still are going to help us with this investigation."

"How do you know that? How do you know that the second we split up I won't go and jump on the nearest train for home?"

"Because I know you. And now that you mention that, I just might have to keep an eye on you."

Whatever Ed was about to say was lost in a loud explosion that tossed the train off the tracks and onto its' side. Screams and shouts filled all of the cabins.

"Is everyone okay?!" Roy called out as he tried to move from his spot but found himself pinned by something.

"Hey! Don't scream in my ear Mustang I'm right here!" Ed yelled. It appeared that Ed was tossed from his seat and onto Roy.

"Well then get off me!"

"Fine!"

As Ed got up, he 'accidentally' stepped on Roy's gut; causing him to hiss at Ed, who he still couldn't see through all of the dust.

"Is everyone else okay?!" Roy yelled.

"I'm good." Al's voice said.

"Me and Breda are okay." Havoc's voice answered though it sounded a little shaken.

"I'm fine." Riza said.

"I'm not hurt but I think there's something on me." Falman answered.

"Sorry Falman…" Furey muttered. "I'm alright but can someone help me up?"

After everyone was up they all crawled out of one of the smashed windows and out onto the desolate ground. A few other passengers managed to get out but there were still a few screams of panic coming from inside.

"Was anyone killed?" Roy asked a nearby passenger.

"Not in my cabin. Yours?"

"No."

"Well we have to get the people trapped inside out now! There's a fire that's starting to spread from the engine room and this thing could explode at any time!"

"Right. Hey!" Roy called over his shoulder to were the others were standing. "We have to get the other people out!"

The others quickly rushed forward and to the train cabin that still had screams emanating from it. Ed was able to crawl inside faster than the others. After a quick sniff around, he resounded that no gas lines had been broken yet and he sprang into action.

"Help!" Came a terrified scream at Ed's right.

"Help us please!"

After maneuvering around broken seats and twisted and snapped poles, Edward found the source of the cries. Stuck under two collapsed benches were three children. The oldest was a boy that seemed to be around eight. The next was the sobbing little girl would couldn't have been older then four. On the boys lap was a toddler who was screaming bloody murder.

"Help!" the boy cried.

"Mommy! Mommy! I want my Mommmyyyy!" screamed the little girl, unaware that someone had showed up to save them.

"Hey!" Ed yelled as he tried to make the little girl aware of him.

The small girl opened her eyes, revealing big brown, bloodshot eyes. The little boy was busy trying to stop the small toddler's crying.

"Help!" yelled the little girl now that she realized that he was there.

Ed stared at the three children. He couldn't just take one or two and then come back. He had to take them all at once…perfect.

"Hi! I'm Ed!" he yelled.

"Helllp Us!" Yelled the boy.

"Alright, alright! What's you're name?" He asked while motioning to the boy.

"Greg!!"

"Alright Greg I need you to get onto my back!" Ed ordered while trying to keep a calm expression on his face. The fire was on the opposite side of this cabin, but with all of the fuel here, he had to work fast.

"What about my sister!" he yelled while motioning to the toddler in his arms.

"Give it to her!"

After carefully handing the toddler to the other girl, he climbed onto Ed's back and wrapped his arms tightly around Ed's neck.

"Okay! Come here sweet heart!" Ed yelled while trying to reach for the little girl.

"Mom-mmmyyy!"

"Jenna! He's trying to save you!" Greg yelled as the girl scouted away from Ed's outstretched arms.

"Come on. I won't hurt you." Ed said while smiling as gently as he could at her.

The small girl stared at her brother and then looked at Ed.

"O-okay…"

"Good. Now hold onto your little sister tightly so she doesn't fall." Ed instructed as she moved forward.

Once both of the girls were secure in his arms, Ed turned around and began to move towards the window that he entered.

"Okay Greg!"

"Yeah!?"

"I need you to get off and then climb through the window, okay!"

"O-okay!"

Ed made sure he was out completely before he started to go out. After Ed was out, he ran as fast as he could away from the train. Ed set down the two small girls in front of there brother before he looked at the other who surrounded him.

Al, Roy and the rest of them where out. Several bruised and scared looking passengers surrounded them. Ed turned to Roy who was near him.

"Is everyone out?"

"I don't know. But we can't risk going back in there to check. The lines could break at any second."

Ed stared at the train. The fire was now engulfing most of one cabin. There were no more screams or pleas for help, but that didn't mean that everyone was out.

"We should probably move away incase that thing blows."

"Good idea."

Ed motioned for the kids to move back. The little girl, Jenna, tried to lift up her little sister but couldn't.

"Let me get her." Ed said as he bent down to pick up the still sobbing child. "Go on." He added when the little girl wouldn't move.

Jenna grabbed onto Ed's pant leg with her small hand and began moving, dragging Ed along with her. Roy left Ed to go help passengers that couldn't move fast enough.

"Alright." Ed said once they were almost fifty feet away from the train. "We should be safe here."

Ed set down the small girl on the ground and collapsed next to her.

"So was your mom with you?" Ed asked the boy who had stopped crying.

"N-no. Our Aunt was traveling with us."

"We canned fine 'er!" the little girl screeched.

"Don't worry, we'll find her."

Ed turned away from the small children and looked around. There was no one screaming for a Jenna or Greg and it made his stomach tighten.

_But there are some unconscious people._ Ed thought.

Al was busy trying to move a few more people to safety, maybe one of them was their aunt. Ed turned back to the children and began to comfort the toddler who was still crying.

"What's your name?" Ed asked quietly.

"Em-em-em-ma-ma-ma-ma!" she screeched.

"What's her name?" He asked turning to Greg.

"Emma."

"Alright Emma. Calm down. It'll be okay." Ed said as he rubbed her head.

Ed turned back to look at what was left of the train just in time to see it explode. Ed flung himself over the small children to protect them from any shrapnel.

"You guys alright?" He asked in a weary tone as he looked down at the terrified children.

* * *

**I loved writing the train explosion in this chapter. I guess actiony (not-a-word) writing gets me becuase I wrote like 75% of this chapter in like, half an hour.**

**See you guys soon!**

**SEND ME REVEIWS OR I WILL STRIKE! FOUR REVEIWS!**


	6. Chapter 6

**MERRY EARLY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!**

**I really wish I could've hold onto this chapter until Christmas morning but when I realized that I was already a page into Chapter 7, I thought that I could just give you this a day or two earlier!**

**I got a bit of a longer one for you so I hope you love your presant! Please give me lots of Christmas presants too! (REVIEWS!)**

**And thank you to everyone who took my threat seriously and reveiwed. It wasn't the record breaker that I really wanted but, what the hell, nothing wrong with five!**

**Okay I want...a minimum of...FIVE! Yup! I'm pushing the envolope! But what else do I expect after a chapter that's almost twice what I usually do? :)**

**HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!**

**P.S. I forgot to put this in the last few chapters but the name of the town that they're going to is called Azeum [made it up...]**

**(I don't own FMA)**

* * *

"Greg! Emma! Jenna!" Someone screamed causing Ed to look up.

"Ma'am you have to stay calm!" He heard Falman trying to calm the distressed women.

"MY NEPHEW AND NEICESS WERE IN THERE! EMMA! GREG! JENNIFER!"

Ed knew that she thought they had still been in the train when it exploded. He quickly got up and ran to the lady, who was being held back by both Havoc and Falman now.

"Excuse me ma'am." Ed said as he tried to get the lady's attention.

"GREGORY!"

"Miss relax!" Ed yelled tried to yell over her.

"EMMA!"

"HEY!" Ed screamed pushing his way through Havoc and Falman. "Quit your yelling! I've got the kids with me! Now be quiet!"

Ed had a major headache from the crash and had no more tolerance to people who made it worse. The women stared at him in disbelief for several moments before she spoke.

"E-Emma."

"Yes."

"A-and J-Jenna?"

"Yes."

"An-and Gre-Gregory?"

"Yes." Ed answered, a little exasperated this time.

"B-B-Blond h-hair? And B-Brown ey-eyes?"

"Yes!" Ed yelled now thoroughly annoyed. "Come with me. They're just as worried about you as you are for them."

The lady only followed him for a few steps before she caught sight of the children and broke out into a full out run.

"Jenna! Emma! Greg!"

"Auntie!" Jenna and Greg yelled as they spotted the women.

The children were quickly enveloped in their aunt's arms. Edward would've smile, if it wasn't for the fact that his head started to pound horribly at that moment. Ed let them have their moment. He wasn't going to go over there and ruin it.

"Hey Al." he called over to his brother who was helping a newly conscious person.

"What is it Ed?"

"Do you think we got everyone out?"

"I don't know. We probably got all of the passengers out. It wasn't that crowded. But I don't know about the driver and them. The fire started up front."

"Hmm…what do you think got this train?"

"Maybe the tracks were broken."

"Maybe…let's go check it out."

The two jogged to the tracks that where slightly above the massive wreckage and inspected it. The tracks were slightly mangled from the heat of the blast but there didn't seem to be a break of any kind.

"Maybe we should ask Mustang or Riza…" Ed reasoned.

"Why?"

"It could've been a bomb."

"And if it was a bomb-." Al started.

"Then it could have been one of the terrorists' bombs."

"We have to go talk to them now."

Ed and Al got up from their spots and ran over to where Roy and Riza were talking quietly to each other. They both stopped when they noticed Ed and Al coming closer to them.

"The tracks don't have any breaks in them." Ed whispered to Roy.

"You sure?"

"Yes. The tracks where a bit bent but that could have been from the explosion."

"So you came to the same conclusion that we did?" Riza asked.

"Yeah but it's a change in their MO, so could it be them still?" Ed asked. "One minute their bombing buildings and now their bombing tracks? Doesn't make sense."

"Doesn't have to." Roy muttered.

"Maybe there was something one this train that would have put a whole in their plans." Riza reasoned.

"Like us…" Roy said.

"Mustang, you're getting paranoid." Ed said in exasperation.

"How could they have known we where going to be on that train to try to find out about the attacks?" Al questioned.

"Well, maybe if everyone didn't have a screaming match just before we went inside to discuss said business, then I would have no idea how they could've found out." Riza said while shooting dark looks at Roy and Ed.

"But still, how could they? It could have just been a coincidence." Al said.

"Look, we can figure this out later but right now we have to get to the town." Ed muttered as he stared off into the distance. "Shouldn't be that long…"

"Would it take longer to walk back to the station and then take another train?" Roy asked.

"Yeah." Al answered.

"Like hours since this is the only track that goes into this direction." Ed added.

"We would have to change trains once we got to the closest town and then hope it didn't take to long to get back here."

"So we should walk?"

"Yup. Should only take an hour or two."

Ed began to walk over to where Breda and Furey were helping more passengers when something caught him in the shins and brought him facedown into the ground.

"Oww…"

"BIG BRADA!" A small voice yelled.

Ed turned onto his sided so that he could see who or what had gotten him. It was Jenna. She had stopped crying and now she wore a bright smile. Ed noticed that her older brother and aunt, who was carrying the toddler, were running up behind him.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" the aunt said once she saw Ed lying on the ground. "I tried to warn her not to do this. Jenna! Get off this nice man."

"Sow-weee"

Ed quickly got up off of the ground once the girl had let go off his legs and brushed the dirt off of his pants.

"So…so y-you _saved_ them?" They aunt asked in a quiet voice.

"Uh, yeah." Ed said awkwardly. He had saved enough people that he knew what was coming.

"Oh, oh thank you…" The lady began to tremble due to the sobs she withheld.

"Um, it's alright…" Ed muttered while he rubbed the back of his head. He never was good with this sort of thing.

"No, no. You saved all of them…I should owe you-."

"You don't owe me anything." He said, cutting the lady off.

Ed stared down at his legs were the little girl had latched herself onto his leg again.

"I'm Edward by the way." He said, bringing out his hand.

"Dona." She said while taking his hand and shaking it.

"Well, seeing as I don't have a ride to the Azeum anymore, I should get going soon so I can get there before lunch."

"You're walking there?"

"Yeah. It's not that far. But for you I'd suggest either walking back to Resembool station or wait here until a ride comes along."

"Oh, thank you. I don't live in this area so I don't quiet know what would be the best choice."

"You here on vacation?"

"No. My sister and brother-in-law are on vacation and I'm watching them."

"Where do they live?"

"They live just west of Resembool. We were planning on coming here for a little day trip."

"Well then I think you should go back to the station and then go on the trip another day."

"Well thank you very much."

"It's alright."

"I can never thank you enough."

"Don't worry about it."

"Jenna, let go of the nice mans' leg."

"Oh-kay."

"Say bye."

"Buh-bye Bwada!"

"Bye…" The boy muttered as he buried his face into his aunts' waist.

The toddler merely put one of her fists into the air and waved it about fiercely while making small, probably happy, noises.

"Well bye then. Ed said as he smiled down at them before he turned to leave.

* * *

"How much longer is it?" Havoc asked as he stumbled over a small sand dune for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

"Half an hour!" Ed yelled. "Same amount of time since you last asked!"

Every few minutes or so Havoc and Breda would take turns asking how long it would be. They were obviously not used to walking long distances like Ed and Al were.

"It's like taking a car ride with children, I swear…" Ed growled under his breath.

"What was that?!" Havoc yelled.

"I said that you and Breda are like two little children!"

"We are not children!"

"Really? Cuz you could've fooled me."

After much whining and many screaming matches, the group finally made it within the city limits of Azeum. Even though they had left early for the train, it was almost noon when they got there.

A quick look around of the town told them that these people were in no mood to help a bunch of strangers, let alone military officers. Everyone wore deep scowls on their faces and seemed in no mood to stop and talk. Nothing in the main part of town seemed destroyed but if someone where to journey onto the farther edges of town, they would find that the area looked more like a war zone than a peaceful town.

"So…were do we start?" Ed asked as he looked around at the sullen people.

"You got any ideas Al?" Havoc asked while turning to Al.

"Umm…Well when I realized that this is a very gossip driven town. So I think if we were to just blend into the crowd, you'll hear plenty about what's going on."

"Well it's better than nothing." Roy reasoned. "We could split up and try and get some information and then meet up here in a few hours."

Before Roy had finished talking, Ed grabbed Al's arm and began to pull him off into the opposite direction.

"Hey! Get back here Fullmetal I wasn't finished yet!" Roy yelled once he realized that Ed and Al were gone.

Ed heard his former commanding officers calls, but he kept moving forward. As Roy used his military title again, Ed looked over his shoulder, looked him square in the eyes and flicked him off. Ed let his stares linger long enough for him to see Roy's pissed off expression.

"I think you should calm down." Riza sighed as Roy made a noise similar to one a wounded animal would have made.

"I'm trying but that kid keeps pissing me off."

"Well maybe you should cool down before you blow our cover." Riza hissed as several passing shoppers gave them strange looks.

"Alright, let's split up and meet back here in two hours."

Roy, Riza, and Havoc went into one direction and Breda, Falman, and Furey went into the other.

* * *

"So were should we go first Ed?"

"How about somewhere to eat." He muttered while massaging his stomach.

"I'm serious."

"So am I! Listen, I'm sure a nice dinner or café is the perfect place to listen in on people's conversation."

"Hmm…You actually have a point there."

"Do you remember any place like that?"

"Yeah. There's one just up High street." Al said while pointing up to a street sign.

Five minutes later, Ed and Al were seated at a booth in a local café by a young girl who was owner of the fakest, flirty smile in the world.

"Maybe this will be easier that I thought." Ed muttered as he played with the straw in his soda.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean our waitress totally wants to have a threesome with us." Ed said, causing Al to choke one his drink.

"Brother!"

"Or relax. I'm not saying that we _actually_ have one with her; she's not even that pretty. But what I am saying is that we use her for information."

"You think she'll know anything?"

"Come on. She's a teenaged girl in a gossip-filled town. If she doesn't know anything then she's a disgrace to this town."

"B-But…"

"What is it Al?"

"I-I can't-I don't know how to flirt with girls…"

"What?" Ed asked in disbelief.

"I can't do it." He muttered again while his face began to flush a deep red.

"But I see Mei absolutely melting whenever you smile at her."

"I don't now how but-."

"It's called natural charisma dear brother. We Elrics are born with oodles of it. Don't sweat it. Just smile at her and she'll be putty in our hands."

"A-alright…"

* * *

"Umm, shouldn't we be going around town?" Furey asked as he looked around nervously.

"We have two hours." Breda muttered though his mouth full of sandwich. "Relax, it's not like Mustangs just gonna show up out of nowhere."

"R-right."

"Besides, Falman' out and about. He's great at getting info without anyone noticing. I'm sure he'll come back with a bunch out stuff on the bombings."

* * *

"So is this all we're gonna do?" Havoc asked while pretending to be fascinated by the small wooden figurines in front of him.

Roy, Riza, and Jean had stumbled upon a flea market and decided that this would be the perfect place to get gossip.

"Jean, you actually have to talk to people. Don't just float around looking for the perfect figurine to put in your lonely apartment." Roy muttered as he tried to listen in on two housewives' conversation.

"…I swear! Aaron will _so_ propose to you tonight!" One of the women squealed.

"Are you sure? Cuz you said that about Tim and Millie and they broke up last week…"

"Hey. Where's Riza?" Havoc asked, having not heard the second part of Roy's sentence.

"I don't know…" Roy mumbled as he tried another conversation.

"Is that all you know?" Riza asked as she gave the men a small but flirty smile.

"Hmm…Yeah." One of the men answered.

Riza had run into a group of men and decided to play up her femininity to its fullest. She played the damsel-in-distress card, even though she absolutely hated it, to get the men to talk to her.

"Well thank you. You've been a big help."

"You sure you don't need one of us to walk you to your sisters' house?" One asked eagerly.

"No, I think I'll manage." Riza said in a sweet tone that many people wouldn't have believed she possessed.

"Alright. I hope to see you around town again." One said while winking at her.

"Well maybe you will. Now I have to go or else my sister will be worried about me."

Once the group of oggoling men were out of sight, Riza turned back into her professional manner.

"I think I need a bath…" Riza muttered to herself as she tried to make her way back to Roy and Jean. Acting helpless to a bunch of guys made her feel dirty and disgusted with herself.

* * *

"Here's you food boys." The flirty waitress said with her pageant queen smile.

"Thank you Amy." Ed said while giving her a bright smile.

"Oh, don't worry about it. Call me back if you need _anything._"

"Well actually, I was wondering if you'd like to join us for a moment." Ed said.

"Well…" Amy said while giving the restaurant a quick look around. "It's not anywhere near busy…and my break _is _in a few minutes…"

"So join us." Al said while giving her a smile that would rival his brother's.

"Well if you boys insist…" Amy said as a faint blush spread a crossed her cheeks.

After a quick moment of debate, Amy chose a seat next to Ed, much to the delight of Al; he was worried what would happen to him if somehow, Mei got wind of this.

"So I haven't seen you boys around town, are you travelers?" she asked while moving uncomfortably close to Ed.

"We're here on a day trip." Al answered.

"So you live around here?"

"Yes we do." Ed said while trying to move closer to wall without Amy noticing; he was almost dieing from the sickenly amount of perfume that she apparently bathed in.

"Well then maybe I'll see you around." She added with a wink as she helped herself to one of their fries.

"Maybe you will…"

"So, did you hear about that train that derailed this morning?" Al asked.

"Oh yeah! I heard all about it! It blew up right?" She exclaimed, obviously happy to dive into town gossip.

"That's what we heard." Ed said with a smile.

"Yeah, this town has been just _so _messed up! It's like, all of these explosions and junk! It's really annoying when you're like, trying to shop and then these like, officers come and say we have to leave 'cuz like a bomb's gonna go off soon."

"Uh, huh." Ed muttered already feeling his IQ slipping.

Many people wondered why the hell he and Winry were together and sometimes Ed wondered that himself. They fought a lot, almost to the point where it bordered abuse. But now, sitting next to this bleach-blind bimbo told him exactly why he was in love with smart, cute, funny, and SMART Winry. He doubted Winry had used the term 'and junk' or 'like' as many times in her life as this girl did in ten minutes.

"So, have you ever seen anything weird lately?" Al asked, noticing that his brother was in La-La land.

"Like what? Like weird stuff or like _weird_ stuff?" She asked, completely serious.

"Li-um, about the attacks." Al said while trying to recover after almost sounding like this idiotic girl.

"_Ooh._ Yeah, I've seen them."

"Seen 'what' exactly?" Ed asked while he rubbed his temples. He was about an inch away from jumping out of the window.

"Like…like maybe I have to get one of your phone numbers to remember." She said slyly.

So this girl wasn't just a dumb-fuck. She knew how to get what she wanted and inside that made both Ed and Al feel relieved, because now they knew she at least knew _something._

"Well if that's what you need to remember…" Ed said as he grabbed a napkin. "Do you happen to have a pen?"

"Ooh, yes I do." She purred. "Take one."

Ed's eyes were forced to travel to her chest where she kept several pens in a pocket. Ed felt his face heat up as he went to grab one of the pens. He could tell that Al was desperately trying to keep his face straight, but he ignored him completely.

"Oh sorry!" She exclaimed when she 'accidentally' brushed up against his hand with her chest. "Got a chill."

Ed quickly grabbed one of the pens and scribbled down a number that he didn't know.

"There you go."

"Oh thank you so much!"She squealed before throwing her arm around Ed's shoulder. "Now…what were we talking about?"

"If you saw anything weird around town. About the attacks." Al answered.

"Oh right…So like the other day I was out shopping with this girl who thinks I'm just like, 'OMG Fabulous!', but I only hang out with her for her shoes. But anyways, we were just about to go get some food and stuff, or at least I was, she's a total anorexic or bulimic or what is it when you don't eat?"

"Anorexic." Al answered while staring at his soda glass and wondering if he could blugger himself into unconsciousness with it.

"Right anor-whats-it. And so I was all like, 'OMG what's that creepy dude doing over there?' and she was all like 'What are you talking about?' and I was like 'are you freaking blind? Right there.' And then we were both like 'Oh My God! …"

Ed really hoped that al had been paying attention because he couldn't stand one more 'OMG' or 'like'. Ed was only too happy when the manager came over and told her that her break was over. After dodging a kiss on his check, passing it off as a spasm, they paid for the food and ran as fast as they could away from there.

* * *

**So I had a lot of fun writing the bimbo part, but it wasn't hard at all to write. I just had to think about the idiots at my school (I'm a bitch ;p)**

**Hope to see you again before the New Year!**

**Bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

**HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!**

**I hope everyone had a great holiday! :)**

**Usually I would totally bitch people out for not reveiwing (Three...come on. That's just _sad_) but I understand. It's the holidays. Not everyone is able to be on thier computer so I will forgive you guys. Thank you to those who did find the time to review my last one.**

**Enjoy!**

**(I do not own FMA)**

* * *

"So did anyone get any information?" Roy asked half an hour later.

"We did." Al said wearily. He was still pretty worn down from all of that girls talking.

"Well what did you get?" he asked eagerly.

"Apparently, about two weeks ago a group of shady looking men were seen strapping what was assumed to be a bomb onto an old building. They were all around mid thirties to early forties. Apparently all Amestrain."

"Amestrain…" Roy muttered.

"Yeah." Al said. "And a few days ago the radio waves in this area were taken over for a few by an unknown source for two minutes. People couldn't make out much of anything but some people swore they could hear the words 'Military will fall'."

"I also heard that." Riza said. "I also found out that when the rebellion was at its peak that much of this town was devastated and that apparently every now and again some drunk will go and try to bomb the nearest military post. No one ever actually got to the post but it shows that this town holds plenty of hostility towards the military."

"Anything else" Roy asked.

"I have heard that there appears to be a shady operation at the local storage container yard." Falman said.

"And where is the storage area?"

"It's on the other side of town; almost where the slums start."

"Well then our best chance is to go there."

"But how are we gonna do it?" Ed asked. "I mean if it is the center of operation we can't just go up and say 'Hello! We're from the military and we kinda have to turn you in'."

"Edward is right." Riza agreed. "Maybe it's best if we wait. At least until tonight."

"They're right." Breda said. "We can't just go there in broad daylight."

"Well then I guess we'll have to wait." Roy reasoned.

* * *

"Are you sure this is it?" Roy asked hours later as they crept towards an abandoned building on the outskirts of town.

"As sure as we can be." Falman answered.

"Should we split up?" Havoc asked while looking around the area.

The area was completely abandoned; not a soul in sight. The only source of light came from the groups' two lanterns. Azeum's light was only a small bulb of light in the distance and the only noise was the occasional gunshot or a yell from the near-by slums. Needless to say, it was pretty creepy here.

"We probably should." Roy reasoned. "We can cover up more ground that way."

* * *

"Why the _Hell_ do I have to be in your group!?" Ed asked for what seemed to be the hundredth time, even though it was really only the third.

"Because this way I can keep an eye on you." Roy growled.

"Why do you think I need to watched? I'm not five!"

"Yes but I know you. If you found the people behind this first than I know you would act first, ask questions later. So I'm making sure that you don't screw it up."

"Ugh! And you're the _only_ person who can keep an eye on me?!"

"I'm the only person who can keep you under control."

"Why can't Riza do that!? What makes you so special?"

Roy let out a large sigh from his noise say he stared Ed down. Ed wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of winning, so he stood his ground and glared right back at him.

The rest of the group stood next to the two stubborn mules and stared. It was amazing how Ed could pull out the teenager in Mustang. Riza had let their little staring match go on for a few more minutes before she pulled out her trusty pistol had shot it up in the air, ending the match.

"Enough! Ed! Quit whining and get over it! Roy! Stop acting like an infant!"

The two men exchanged a quick glare before moving away from each other.

"Alright." Riza said once everyone was acting their age. "You go that way-,"She said while motioning to her right, "and we'll go this way. Call us if you find anything."

Hours earlier when they where killing time, they had found a set of wireless radios that they could use to talk to each other. Roy had one and Riza had another.

* * *

"Are we almost done? I'm freezing my ass off out here!" Havoc whined as they walked down another row of containers.

"No Havoc!" Roy growled. "Just shut up so we can hear if they're talking about something."

"It's creepy out here." Al muttered as he looked around at the empty yard.

"Get over it Al." Ed muttered as he shinned his flashlight on a mouse that whizzed by him. "Don't tell me you're still afraid of the dark."

"I am not afraid of the dark! It's just…this place is freaking creepy…"

"I know what you mean." Havoc mumbled as he stuck a new cigarette in his mouth. "I feel like there's someone watching me."

"Babies." Ed and Roy muttered while casting glance at the other two.

They walked on. Occasionally they would stop and press their ears against a container and listen for voices. If anyone had happened upon the group, they would surely think that they had gone nuts.

"Ugh…we've been out here for hours…" Ed grumbled as he stared at his watch. It was almost two in the morning; they had been at this since nine-thirty. "How many storage thingies does this town need?! It's taken us four hours to get half of this place!"

"Edward." Roy barked. "Calm the hell down. If you have enough energy to shout then you should have enough energy to check out that one over there." Roy growled while motioning towards one of the last containers.

"Fine, fine…" Ed muttered as turned and walked over to the small building.

Ed did the same thing that he must have done a hundred times that night: out his ear against each wall, get the walls a quick knock or kick, and then pretend to look like he was inspecting further. Except when he pressed his ear to the first wall, he wasn't greeted by the usual silence. This time there was…noise.

Ed pressed his ear harder against the cold wall and tried to listen. Whatever was in there, they where human. Defiantly not an animal or a radio that had somehow managed to switch on.

There was more than one than one person. Three? Maybe… Ed had to guess that there couldn't be more than four or five people in there; it wasn't like these places were huge.

"…imera got shipped? … You sure? …and no one saw? …"

Whoever was talking must have been having a conversation with someone on the phone because he could only hear one side of the conversation.

"Hey." Ed whispered over his shoulder while making frantic arm movements to bring the others over to him.

Quickly and quietly the other three made their way over to Ed.

"I think I found something." Ed said this so quietly he almost mouthed it. "Listen."

The others quickly rammed their ears onto the wall and listened. No one seemed to even dare to take a breath in case the people would hear them.

"…shipped off just east of Rush Valley." This person was the one on the phone just moments ago.

"And the shipment went off without a hitch?" this voice had a very greedy tone to it.

"Of course it did. The military might be big but they don't have enough underlings to check _every_ train line."

"But what if they start to use higher-ups to check out trains?" This voice was defiantly female and she sounded worried.

"Use higher-ups?" One asked before letting out a harsh laugh. "Like they would even think of sending _useful_ people out to do such a menial job. Yes they are already sending out Lieutenants but I doubt that they'd even think of sending out Colonels."

"Besides…we will have already achieved our goal by the time they would need Colonels." Said the man who could only be assumed to be the leader of the group.

"So you think this will truly work?" the woman asked skeptically.

"Of course! Why wouldn't it? The military is spread thinly between trying to round up our Chimeras and take care of all the blasts."

"This guy sure is cocky." Roy muttered as he tried to picture what this manic looked like.

"Even compared to you I'd say he cocky." Ed muttered, ignoring Roy's glares.

"What should we do?" Havoc asked. "Wait 'til they come out?"

"Well since we don't know how heavily armed they are, I think we should hide and wait until they come out. If they aren't heavily armed, I think I'd be best to go for it."

"Are we going to radio Riza?" Al inquired.

"Right," Roy said as he fished in his pocket for the radio. "Here Havoc. You remember what frequency they're on right?"

"Yeah."

"Get away from here and contact her. Now everyone be quiet, we can't have them overhear us."

"…ink those military idiots even have an inkling what's gonna happin'?" cackled one of the men.

"Doubt it. They're so ignorant to everything that going on in their own country! I can't wait to see their faces when they realize what's happening! What do you think Boss?"

"Oh I think a select few military officials know what's going on."

"Really? Cuz I thought you said they were too stupid to hit the broad side of a barn with one of their guns."

"Don't you mean hit the barn side of a broad?!" One laughed gleefully.

"No, no. They know."

Roy froze. He didn't like the tone in that mans voice. It sounded too sure. Too at ease. Roy's stomach began to knot as he imagined the calm smirk that was probably plastered onto his face.

"Why do you think that?" Asked the women.

"Because four of them are currently pressed against this very wall."

* * *

**Oh shit... Cliffhanger...**

**Okay I have something impotrant to say so *Please Read This.* I am going to start a new fan fic! (yay! baby fic!) So I want to know what you think. It's another FMA but it's AU. There's going to be EdXWin and I'm not sure of the other pairings yet. But i think this fic will be awesome so tell me what you think. I already have the first chapter finished so I might put it up today.**

**Thanks for reading! Please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**okay...Epic New Years for me...**

**During a new years party, my sister and our best friend created an idea to go on a road trip to a gaming convention (Mag-Fest) in Virginia at one in the morning. I have no idea how, but it actually worked out and a few hours later five of us smushed into my friends boyfriends' car and began a seven hour road trip. The reason for our trip was to meet Little Kuriboh,** **(if you don't know who that is, he's the creator of Yu-Gi-Oh! the abridged series...look it up and prepare to laugh your ass off.) and I got his autograph! We spent 17 hours at the Con and 14 hours in the car...totally worth it.**

**It's the next day and I felt like I should probably update, so I hopped on the computer and wrote this entire chapter. Hope you like it!**

**(I don't own FMA)**

* * *

Roy's reaction was instantaneous. He quickly jumped backwards from the container and then reached for his trademark ignition cloth gloves.

It seemed like it took hours for the others to realize what had happened, and it infuriated Roy to no end. But in reality, Ed moved away from the container only a few seconds after Roy had. But as Havoc and Al moved away and began to ready themselves for a fight that was bond to happen, the door or the container flew open, revealing several pissed-off looking people.

"So…it looks like we have some rats seeking around _our_ business." A large and muscular man said with and evil grin.

"Oh well. Rats are easy enough to deal with." The female said. She was very skinny but they could see she was also slightly muscular.

"But these are military rats." The large man said again. "Look!" he exclaimed while pointing towards Roy and laughing. "This one thinks he can fight us!"

The once quiet storage yard was now filled with laughter. Ed glared at them as he tried to gain his bearings on the situation.

_There are only four people…there are four of us. Yet they still think that they can beat us. And they know or thin that we're all in the military. Do they have weapons hiding in there or are they just overly confident? Well, only one way to find out…_

"What are you laughing at?!" Ed yelled.

Roy, Havoc, and Al all sent him 'what the Hell are you doing' and 'shut the Hell up' looks. Ed ignored them; he knew what he was doing.

"You don't think we can take you?"

"Edward-." Roy began to growl.

"Shut up." Ed said out of the corner of his mouth.

"_You?_" the women asked. "You think we will be taken down by a little boy and his military buddies?"

"Don't call me little you hag!"

"Hag?!"

Ed-."

Ed could hear Al's worried voice. Ed gave him a look from the corner of his eye that told him that he knew what he was doing; Ed just hoped that Al would believe that he actually had a plan and wasn't just playing around.

"_So_," said a tall and skinny man who stood half in the shadows. "You think that you've won? You thin just cuz you found us you win? Well let me tell you something: YOU HAVEN'T WON AT ALL! NOT BY A LONG SHOT!

Ed stared at the group in front of him with mild amusement as the other two dragged the deranged man back into the storage container. During this period of confusion, the others ran over to Ed to ask him what the Hell was he doing.

"Jean, you managed to contact Riza and the rest of them right?" Ed asked hopefully.

"Yeah."

"Did you tell them were we are?"

"Well I told her what isle number we are in, but even if they were at the other end, it'd still take a while for them to get here."

"So what the Hell are you doing Edward?" Roy asked, completely infuriated.

"Well I'm simply giving the others more time to get over here and to help them with where we are exactly. This place is pretty big you know."

"Yes but what if you just piss them off and they start shooting?!" Roy asked while almost shaking Ed by the shoulders.

"If you're too old to dodge a few bullets then you can just go home."

"I am not old you little pipsqueak!"

"_Guys._" Al said. "If we keep fighting then they could get us by surprise. Now shut up!"

"My, my…" said another voice from behind them.

The four men turned to see another man moving his way through the shadows. This one was average height and on the skinnier side.

"I must say that I am…_impressed_…that military folk can manage to find someone that they are looking for. And for that, I must give you a little something."

Everyone tensed as he moved his hands up. But instead of bringing a gun up to them or some other weapon, they saw empty hands; then a clap rung out into the dark night, confusing all of them. Then another clap, and another, and another.

_Is he…applauding us?_ Ed thought in disbelief._ No, he can't. What kind of crack-pot is this guy?_

"I must say that you men deserve a round of applause. But this is where your investigation must end. Crows!" he barked.

The large man appeared from inside of the container and stood in front of the leader.

"Please take care of these pests for me." the leader said as he turned to leave.

"Wait!" Roy yelled as he made a move towards the man but was then flung back by Crows and into another container.

"Mustang!" Ed yelled as he watched Roy being flung back like a rag doll.

"Oh shut up Blondie." Crows muttered as he began to move towards the other three.

The large man moved his arm back and prepared to swing it at Ed, but was stopped when three shots rung through the storage yard.

"SHIT!" he yelled as he tried to stop the bleeding from his meaty arm.

Ed, Al, and Jean turned around to see Riza running towards them; Breda, Falman, and Furey following behind her.

"Oh, so you called a few of your little friends? No matter, I can take all of you guys."

SNAP!

The ground in front of Crows was instantly engulfed in flames. Everyone turned to see Roy forcing himself up from the ground.

"Roy!" Riza exclaimed once she noticed the blood that was trickling down the side of his head.

"I'm fine. Let's just get this guy under control." Roy said.

Ed and Al sent a quick look to each other before they both dropped to their knees and slammed their hands to the ground, causing blinding blue light to shine all over the area.

When the light cleared, Crows was had thick bands of earth wrapped around his legs, chest, and arms.

"Alchemists…that's cheating."

"Oh shut up." Ed growled. "You're just a soar loser. Now you wait here while I go get your little friends."

It was obvious that their container had another secret exit, seeing as the container was completely empty of human life. Ed then began running off into the distance.

"Edward!" Roy yelled after him.

"Brother, get back here!"

"You take care of him." Roy ordered the others. "Be careful when inspecting the container."

"Yes sir!"

"Good."

Roy then ran after Ed, who was now just a small pin-prick in the distance. After a quick glance at the others, Al turned and ran off after Roy and his brother.

"Brother!" Al yelled as he began to catch up with Roy; it really was a good thing he was such a fast runner.

"Alphonse!" Roy panted.

"Can you see my brother?"

"I'm afraid I don't see him. I lost him almost the second I ran after him."

"Well that's just perfect."

They ran for several more minutes. By this time, they were close to collapsing from exhaustion.

"C-can you he-hear him?" Roy panted as they slowed their race to a jog.

"No…wait!" Al said before stopping.

"You hear something?"

"Yeah…and look."

About a hundred feet in front of them, blue lights were going off left and right while several voices screamed and yelled.

"Let's go!"

"…that all you got?" Ed yelled from the distance.

"No! I'm just warming up!" yelled the man who was forced back into the container before.

"Good! Because I was getting kinda bored!"

Roy stared at the two fighting men. He wanted to try and stop them, but he couldn't tell who was who. He didn't want to accidentally hurt Edward, but how could he do it?

"Brother!" Al yelled.

Both of the men turned and stared at Al, but thankfully for Roy Ed acknowledged that the two of them had appeared.

"Al! About time you got here!"

"Brother get back here!"

"Hold on! I almost got this guy!"

"Edward!" Roy yelled.

"Who, I didn't know you could still run that fast Mustang!"

"Edward, get back here!"

"What?! Why?! I almost got this guy!"

"Just back up so I don't hit you!"

"Fine!" Ed yelled back, realizing what Roy was talking about.

Ed quickly ran backwards away from the man and out of the line of fire. Roy snapped his fingers and a ring of fire was formed around the man.

"This all you got!" The crazy man yelled.

"No!" Ed yelled back as he clapped his hands, fell to his knees, and hit the ground with his palms.

When the light had faded, Roy and Al saw that he had repeated what he had done on the other man. Roy and Al ran towards Ed and saw that he was completely fine, not even a scratch was on him.

"Alright. Let me call Riza and tell her we've got another one."

"Then we can go home, right?" Al asked hopefully.

"Yeah."

"What?!" Ed yelled. "We're just stopping now!? The other two are still out there!"

"Edward. We have no idea where they are. It's better if we just wait and asked the two that we got if they know anything."

"No! I know where they are! They're just out there!" Ed yelled while motioning to the open land behind him.

"Fine!" Roy yelled. "You want to go get lost! Fine! Go!"

"Good! I will."

"Guys…" Al began.

"Watch out for the manics that live in the slums!"

"I can take care of myself!"

"Guys." Al tried again.

"Well let's see about that-!"

"GUYS!"

"What?!" the two yelled.

"Watch out!" Al yelled while pointing towards the once tied up man.

The man had somehow managed to break free of the band of earth that was once wrapped around his arms and was now reaching towards his pocket. He pulled our something small and round.

"I'll see you in hell." He said with a grin as he pulled something out of the object.

Roy realized now what the man had pulled out. It was a grenade.

"Run!" He yelled to the other two, who had not realized what it was now.

The three began to run and had managed some distance between the grenade once it went off. They all ducked for cover as debris came flying down on their heads.

"Everyone okay?" Roy coughed a few minutes later.

"Yeah."

"I'm okay."

"Good."

Ed got up and began to walk over to were, moments ago, the man had been tied up. There wasn't an once of him left.

"Ed be careful." Al warned as Ed further inspected the area.

"I'm fine."

"Edward." Roy said as he began to walk closer to Ed.

"I'm fine!" Ed insisted.

"Ed!" Roy yelled as he started running towards Ed.

"What's your-AHG!"

Roy wrapped an arm around Ed's waist just as Ed was about to walk over the edge of a cliff.

"Maybe you should listen to me more often." Roy growled as he pulled Ed back onto the ground.

"Maybe I should."

The two started a few hesitant steps towards Al, who was absolutely furious over Ed's idiocy.

"Hey do you hear something?" Ed asked as the moved forwards.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean like this cracking noise."

"Cracking…"

Roy stared at the ground below him in horror. All around him were deep cracks in the ground.

"Edward." Roy said.

"What?" he asked as he continued to move forwards.

"Stop moving."

"What are you talking about?"

"I said stop moving!" Roy yelled as he felt a small shift in the ground.

"Huh?" Ed asked as he out down his foot.

CRACK

"AGHHH!" Ed yelled as he felt the ground beneath him disappear.

Most of the cliff had been seriously weakened in the blast. The cliff the Ed and Roy had been walking on, was now gone. And as for Ed and Roy…

* * *

**Oh...major cliffhanger!**

**I hope you liked this and sorry for the wait. I've been busy with my other fic.**

**I'll try and update this as soon as I can but unfortuatly, I start school tomorrow...dammit!**

**See you guys soon!**

**-FSK**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry it took so long to give this one to you guys...or I would be sorry if I had gotten more than three reviews. (angry face.)**

**Seriously, I'm sorry to the people (Ghosthp,lalalatala, and merlyn1382) who always seem review each chapter, but because others don't feel like reviewing, I don't update as fast. I don't care if I'm acting like a bitch for waiting out for more reviews but I will. I won't ever stop a story completely when there are people who want to read what I have to say, but I will go on strike. I have another story I can always work on...(evil grin)**

**So, it's up to you if you want me to update faster.**

**Hope you like this chapter, I had this chapter mostly written since like, the first chapter so I'm glad that o get to put it up now.**

**(I don't own FMA)**

* * *

"Brother!" Al yelled as he stared over the edge of the cliff. "BROTHER! MUSTANG! …no…no…"

Al stared down into the deep dark depths and suddenly felt incredibly empty. His brother was…he could very well be…

"I-I have to get help…" Al muttered to himself after he pushed the idea of jumping off of the cliff after them.

Al turned on his heel and ran as fast as he could towards the large shapes in the distance that could only be the storage yard. The sun was beginning to peak its way up over the mountains but it was still pretty dark from were he stood.

_I have to hurry up! Brother needs me! W-what if he hit his head or something? Hell, I don't even have a clue as to what's beneath the cliff. What if…what if there's nothing…he and Roy could've just gone…_

Al closed his eyes as he tried to block out the image of Ed and Roy falling to their untimely deaths.

_Relax Al…rivers run all throughout the canyon system…hopefully there's a large river under them…but…how high up was that canyon?_

"No…stop it…" Al growled to himself as he tried to run faster. "They'll be fine. They'll be fine…Ed's too stubborn…he can't, he can't die just like that! Not in some stupid way!"

Al tried his best to keep his tears from overflowing onto his face as he came closer towards the yard.

"RIZA! HAVOC! Everyone!" Al screamed as he saw their shadows slowly coming closer.

"Alphonse!" Riza exclaimed as she saw the boy running towards, just moments away from crying. "Alphonse what is it?"

"Ed…R-Roy…man h-had a b-b-bomb…" Al panted as he collapsed onto the ground on all fours. "Cliff…B-B-Brother f-f-f…Roy…don't, don't know wh-what happened."

"Slow down Alphonse, what happened?" Riza asked as she kneeled down next to Al.

"The man had a bomb!" Al managed to gasp out.

"Did, did it go off?" Havoc asked as he moved closer to Al and Riza.

"Y-yes! But, but they didn't get hurt by that…"

"Then what happened after that?"

"Bomb made the ground…made the ground weak…Brother and Roy…were near a cl-cliff and…and they didn't realize it."

"Okay…" Riza said as the feeling of dread slowly made its way into the pit of her stomach.

"The cliff…the cliff it…it _broke_." Al said quietly.

"It broke?" Riza asked in a hollow voice.

"And…and Ed and Roy they…they were…" Al couldn't say anymore but thankfully the others seemed to have gotten the message.

"Do you no what was at the bottom of the cliff?" Breda asked.

"No…" Al whispered.

"So they may be alright!" Furey said with an optimistic smile on his face.

"Maybe…"

"Well we can't just stand around and wait for them to pop up," Riza said as she stood up. "We have to go get help. We're probably their only chance at surviving. Let's get back to the town and send out a search for them."

"Right."

"Let's go." Riza ordered before she began running towards the town while attempting to pick up a police frequency on her radio.

"I hope you're all right brother…" Al sighed as he began running after Riza.

* * *

"*cough-cough* Edward!" Roy called out as he struggled against the roaring waters that surrounded him.

The cliff that they had fallen off of had, thankfully, not been as high up as Roy had believed it to be. Roy was thankful that he had not landed just onto clod hard ground. But he wasn't exactly enjoying the gallons of freezing cold water that were trying to force their way down his throat as he fought against the fast current.

"EDWARD!" Roy screamed out into the dark as he tried to catch a glimpse of the teens golden hair.

_Dammit, dammit, dammit! Where is he?! Fuck!_

"Edward!"

Roy cursed loudly before he took a large breath of air before he let himself sink under the water. He forced his eyes open but unfortunately, couldn't see anything due to the time of day along with the general murkiness of the water. Just as Roy thought his lungs were going to explode, his head broke the surface. Roy managed to latch onto a large rock that shot upwards from the bottom of the river and caught his breath.

_Shit! Can that kid even swim?!_ Roy thought suddenly. _I mean, he had those metals limbs on him for five years. And he hasn't had all of his limbs for six…crap…_

As Roy tried to readjust his grip on the rock, the tough current swept him up and forced him farther downstream.

"E-Ed!" Roy called out as he coughed up large amounts of water.

_Wait…was that him…?!_

Yes. It was Edward. He was too far away from Roy to hear his shouts over the roaring waters. Roy took a deep breath and began forcing his way across the river.

"ED!"

Roy reached his arm out and tried to grab onto Ed's drenched jacket. After several failed attempts, Roy managed to latch onto it and pull Ed closer to him.

Ed was unconscious, or at least Roy hoped that was all that was wrong. His face was pale and it looked like he had gotten a few bumps and bruises from the debris that surrounded them. Roy tightened his hold on Ed as he felt the current begin to speed up.

Roy felt completely helpless.

Roy's teeth had begun to chatter due to the near freezing water, Ed was violently shaking in his arms, Roy was slowly losing feeling in his arms and legs, but worst of all was that the river didn't seem to want to end anytime soon.

_This can't get any worse, right?_ Roy thought wearily.

* * *

"Blue team, you will be sent out on boats to search the river! Red team, you, along with Yellow team, will be sent out to search the forest area around the river bed! Is this understood?"

"Yes Ma'am!"

Riza stood in front of a large group of soldiers on the outskirts of the town. It had been almost an hour since Roy and Ed had fallen off of the cliff. Al was surprised at how fast these soldiers had gotten together but it still infuriated Al. His brother was out there. Had been out there for almost a whole hour, and they were still standing around throwing out orders to people! The only good thing that came out of this little…pow-wow…was that Al learned that when they fell from the cliff they had fallen into a river. At least Al could push the image of his brother and Roy becoming flat as a pancake as they hit solid ground.

_Hey could be seriously hurt!_

Al tried his best not to worry about Ed; he knew what his brother was capable of…but still…sometimes things were out of a person's control. Maybe Ed can't do anything from were he's at right now…

"Hey Al."

Al turned around and saw Havoc and Breda running towards him. Al let out a deep breath and started to walk towards the two.

"What is it?"

"We're going to go search the wood lands nearby river beds. You coming?"

"Of course."

"Good. Then come on."

Al followed Havoc and Breda to a large Jeep. Al go inside the Jeep, waited for more God damn orders to be given out, and then tried to relax as he was driven away from the scene of aggravation.

* * *

Roy was exhausted. He had been fighting the current for some time now, but was no closer to his destination than he had been ten minutes ago. He had finally begun to spot a solid stretch of land, but unfortunately, he was too tired to swim quick enough to get closer. Ed was clearly weighing him down…but he couldn't just lay him on a rock and hope he could somehow get him onto the land after him. He would just have to try harder.

"Come on…come on…" Roy growled to himself as he began to kick away from his current side of the river. "I have to get…get over there…"

Finally, as he the water level started to lower and the speed of the river started to slow down, Roy was able to pull him and Edward onto the muddy bank. Roy just wanted to collapse onto the gritty ground, but he knew full well that he couldn't. Not yet.

Roy bent over Ed so his ear would be right above his mouth. He wasn't breathing. Roy then moved his fingers to his neck to check his pulse…good…he had a pulse.

"Damn it…I have to…" Roy muttered as he stared at Ed's half open mouth. "No…can't do it…has to be another way…"

Roy searched his mind for a moment and then nearly smacked himself when he remembered his old CPR training. Roy placed his hand, one over the other, on Ed's chest and began pushing down.

_1, 2, 3…come on…4, 5, 6…breath dammit!...7, 8, 9…Come on Ed!...10._

Ed shot up and projected gallons worth, it seemed, of water. Ed bent to his side and began coughing roughly, occasionally water would be forced up and out. After several more minutes of coughing and hacking Ed collapsed on his side and closed his eyes.

Now that he was sure that Ed was alright, Roy collapsed right next to Ed and let out a long shuddering sigh.

"You're to much damn work to take care of…"

* * *

**So Roy and Ed are fine! Did you people seriously think that I would kill them off? I'm not _that_ mean...at least in this story that is.**

**Review and make me happy please!**

**Okay now I have to go upstairs and talk to family members...sigh... But everyone should review fifty times becasue it was my birthday yesterday!**

**-FSK**


	10. Chapter 10!

**Hello everyone! To all of the people who have reviewed for last chapter, Thank You very much! (Yay! Six reviews!)**

**Sorry this took so long for me to get this to you, I've been busy with school work since Mid-Terms are coming up.**

**I hope you love this chapter! :)**

**(I don't own FMA)**

* * *

"According to this map, Roy and Ed must've fallen off and into the river about here." Breda said while pointing a chubby finger at a blue, curvy line than represented the large river system.

"And we're…here?" Havoc said as he pointed to a spot in the middle of the forest.

"No." Breda said. "We're way over here."

"Really? Are you sure? Cuz' I can't figure this damn map out."

Havoc and Breda were standing in the forest while they consulted a map of the entire forest region. Al sat in the back of the car. He was absolutely frantic about the fate of his brother but at the moment he was much too tired to be annoyed with the two men who insisted on staying in one place before they figured out where they were. He hadn't slept in hours and after the initial excitement and panic of Ed and Roy had died down, all that was left inside of Al was exhaustion. Al closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the head rest.

_Brother will be alright. He's been through worse things than this. And Roy's with him. Roy's been through a war…they'll be fine._

* * *

"Hey Ed. Wake up."

"Mngh…"

Roy stood over Ed as he lay, curled up in a ball, on the sandy river bed. Roy had been trying to get him to wake up for a while now.

"Ed. We need to get a fire started."

"Well aren't you the _flame_ alchemist. How about you get on that." Ed muttered as he curled into a tighter ball.

"I don't have my gloves. I must have lost them in the river or something." Roy admitted as he stuffed his hands into his empty pockets.

"How do you lose your gloves?!"

"I don't know. Maybe I lost them when I was saving your ass! Now just get up and help me."

"And what would you do if I decided not to help?"

"You'd freeze to death. Now get up and quite acting like a child."

"Fine." Ed growled as he pulled himself off of the ground and into a standing position. "What do we have to do?"

"Well since Al saw us fall, he probably told Riza and them as soon as he could. So there are probably people out looking for us. So we should probably stay here by the river. We need to set up a camp of some sort."

"Well do we have to do it right here?" Ed said while motioning to the sandy and desolate ground that surrounded them. "Can't we do this about ten yards that way?"

"Why?"

"Well you see Mustang, it's kinda hard to make a shelter out of sand. So how about we go to the woods so I can make a better shelter."

"Fine, let's go and find a good spot before we catch pneumonia."

The two quickly moved into the forest area and began their work. Once they had found a good spot, Roy and Ed quickly cleared the area, with a bit of help from alchemy, and began with the shelter. Ed created a small rectangular shelter from the earth around them before turning to a large pile of leaves that he would try to create blankets out of. While Ed busied himself with the shelter, Roy began his work on the fire.

* * *

"Hey Riza, we've reached the river but we don't see any sign of them." Havoc said as he talked into his hand radio.

"_Well did you just expect them to be floating alone the river? You actually have to look for them." _

Havoc let out a loud sigh, causing the radio to crackle on the other end. This was very frustrating. Roy and Ed could be miles away. This river system went all over the southern region.

"So do you think they got out of the river?" Havoc asked quietly, not wanting Al to over hear the worry in his voice.

"_Well I think it's possible. But you never know. They could've gotten off easy and washed ashore not long after hitting the water or…Well anything is possible."_

"Right. Well we're going to go walk along the river for a while and see if we find anything."

"_Alright. Contact us if you find anything else."_

"Right."

Havoc stuffed the radio back into his pocket as the line clicked off. He then walked over to where Al and Breda stood against the car.

"What did Riza say?" Breda asked.

"She just said to keep looking."

"Okay. Should we split up and search the river?"

"Sounds like the only plan we've got right now. Al, you come with me and we'll go north. Breda, you go south."

"Alright."

Al moved from his spot against the car and began moving down the river. Havoc said a quick farewell to Breda before running after Al.

* * *

"Ed, what are you doing?" Roy asked as he watched Ed mess around with some branches.

"I'm making an animal trap. You want to eat right?"

Roy's stomach chose that moment to let out a low but extremely loud grumble. Ed smiled slightly at the noise before getting back to work.

"Did you get the fire started?" Ed asked as a chill passed through him.

"Yeah." Roy answered. "You should take a break. Even though it's not that cold out you really should let your clothes dry out."

"Right. Me getting sick wouldn't do us any good."

Ed finished up his trap and secured it to the ground before walking over to the large bon fire that Roy had managed to create. As Ed sat down he instantly felt the heat and warmth spread through his body.

"So do you have any idea where we are?" Roy asked as he sat down next to Ed.

"Not really. Do you have any idea how far we drifted down the river?"

"Miles, that's all I can guess."

"Wow, you're helpful."

"Hey! If it wasn't for me you would have drowned in that damned river."

"I said thank you."

"No you didn't! You said that if it wasn't for smashing your head against a rock you wouldn't need my help."

"Well…thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome."

The two sat there in an awkward silence for some time. As Ed opened his mouth to speak, there was a loud snapping sound behind him. Ed quickly turned around and let out a victorious sound.

"What was that?" Roy asked as he stood up.

"It was the sound of us getting some food into our starving bellies!" Ed said as he held up a terrified looking rabbit.

* * *

Hours later, after they had cooked and eaten their food, the two alchemists sat by the fire. The sky was beginning to darken into a deep violet color and several stars began to twinkled in the semi-dark sky.

"What should we do tomorrow?" Ed asked as he let out a large yawn.

"Well I think we should head out."

"Yeah but to where? I'm not extremely familiar with this area."

"Do you know if this river passes by any towns?"

"Yeah."

"If we follow the river we should hit a town eventually."

"How about instead of wandering around and looking for a town that may not even be there, how about we go in the direction we know has a town."

"What do you mean?"

"We drifted down the river. So if we go the way we came from we should hit Azeum eventually."

"Alright. Good plan. Now let's go to sleep. We have a lot of walking to do tomorrow and we need our rest."

"Right."

"We should probably put the fire out." Roy muttered as Ed moved towards the shelter.

"What? Why?"

"Uh, because there are dangerous people looking for us and they could be in the forest somewhere. It wouldn't be very smart to have a signal for the criminals so that they could find us easier."

"Right. Good idea."

Ed transmuted a bucket from the ground before running to the river to gather some water. Once he arrived back, Ed handed the bucket to Roy and let him put out the fire.

Ed crawled into the shelter and curled up under the thin blankets he had transmuted earlier. His exhausted body quickly succumbed to sleep and blocked out the world around him. Roy collapsed next to him and closed his eyes. He would have fallen asleep as fast as Ed did if it wasn't for the fact t that he felt like someone was watching him.

_You're being paranoid Roy. You've had a long day. You need some sleep._

"Right…sleep." Roy muttered to himself as he tried to form a mound of dirt into a comfortable pillow.

Roy eventually got over the felling and fell asleep.

* * *

"Good. It appears that they've fallen asleep," said a women's voice from the shadows of the forest.

"Now's are time to attack."

* * *

**Looks like Ed and Roy are sitting ducks! Oh No! :O**

**Sorry for leaving it here, but I just had to. I probably won't be able to update until the weekend again because I have Mid-Terms (Heavy Groan) this week and most of my focus will be directed to that, so...see you guys later!**

**Please review a lot! If you do I might just neglect studying a night so I can work on the next chapter!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi everyone! I am _so _glad to say that Mid-Terms are over! (yay!) I'm glad to have finished this today so here you go!**

**Thank you for everyone who reviewed last time! Sorry if there are a lot of grammar mistakes, I'm really tired and I wrote this chapter really quickly and I really don't feel like proof-reading right now, even though I know when I go back and re-read this chapter I'll be completely pissed off when I find, like, a billion mistakes.**

**(I don't own FMA)**

* * *

"What are we waiting for?" The women hissed, "They're sitting ducks! We could eliminate them both and be on our way to Central in a day!"

"Patience, my dear Lillianette. I know the ways of the military…they wait, so we shall too."

Lillianette stared at her boss, confused. He often rambled and said things that made little sense to anyone except himself. She had always insisted that he was getting senile earlier than others.

"What have you heard of Geriff?" He asked suddenly.

"Oh uh, nothing sir." Lillianette answered quickly.

"Hmm, regrettable. But Geriff is merely one man. We can lose him if we must. Besides, he was much too…" He trailed off as if searching for the correct word, "_volatile_ for the Greater Good."

"Yes! Of course, couldn't be trusted with anything sharper than a hard-boiled egg!" Lillianette quickly interjected; a small laugh in her voice. Lillianette's eye's then trailed over to her boss, hoping to find him laughing at her joke too, but was disappointed when he looked as if he had not heard the joke.

"An…egg." He muttered quietly. "True, too true."

"Really?" She exclaimed in excitement, her face flushing with happiness.

"Yes. And I do think, using your logic, it's safe to say that Geriff is no longer with us."

"Where do you get that idea?"

"When I checked out supplies before, I noticed that we were missing a grenade."

"Oh…so he-?"

"Poof!" The man said, emphasizing the words with a small explosive hand gesture. "Dead as a doornail."

The two sat there in the dark forest for some time. Lillianette attempted conversation with her Boss, but was quickly quieted, saying that 'You're loud squawking is going to wake those two up'. Just as Lillianette was about to doze off, her Boss stood up and began to walk down the slope.

"Sir! Where, where are you going?!" She asked worriedly.

"Shh! Are you mad women? Do you not know the meaning of 'Shut Up'? Get over here-and do it _quietly_."

"Y-yes Sir." She said quietly, her face flushing a deep red of embarrassment.

The two slowly crept down the decline of the hill to Edward and Roy's encampment. With every step, Lillianette grew more and more excited. Being allowed to accompany their Boss on a murder-if not capture and torture-was a great honor in the 'Business'. It was an honor that any dedicated member would,well, kill for.

"Sir! What are we going to do to them? Poison? Slice their throats? Capture and torture? Send them down the river in a potato sack?"

"All good suggestions. But no my dear, we shall simply…_knock_."

"W-what?" Lillianette asked, her excitement escaping like air through an untied balloon. "W-we aren't…aren't going to _kill_ them?"

"Oh! Of course we're going to kill them my dear! Where'd you ever get that silly idea?"

"I just-never mind sir. Go on!"

The man smiled at Lillianette before he raised his fist and moved it close to the hardened material, as if he was really going to knock. He then pulled his arm back and pulled out something large from his pack that he had flung over his shoulder.

"_Oooh! _What _is_ that?" She asked gleefully as she stared at the piece of large metal he held in his hand.

"I little something I bought to help us along the way." He said before he adjusted the weapon, aimed it at the fort, and unleashed hell on the small fort that could never withstand the barrage of bullets that tore through it.

* * *

"Al, I can't move another inch." Havoc groaned as he somehow managed to drag his feet forward.

"Fine! Then go back! Set up a camp somewhere! I really don't care! But no matter what, I'm not stopping until I find my Brother!"

Havoc stopped for a moment and let out a loud sigh. Sometimes he wondered what lengths those two would go for each other.

"Hey! Wait up kid!" Havoc called out into the darkness once he had caught his breath. Trekking through these woods with Al, who never seemed to tire out, just made him feel old. "Don't leave me out in this dark forest!"

Havoc was thankful to see Al's figure had stopped in its place. He picked up his speed a little when he could sense that Al was becoming extremely irritated with him.

"S-sorry Al. Not as fit as I used to be I guess."

"Well maybe if you stopped smoking all of those cigarettes then you'd be healthier." Al said with a smirk.

"Not you too! Everyone's been bitching at me to quit and I won't have you too."

"Well why won't you quit?"

"Because I don't wanna."

"Alright…how about I make you a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"If you can keep up with me for the rest of the night, I'll try to get the others to stop bothering you about your smoking."

"Okay, now what's in it for you?"

"If you can't keep up, you have to go for a week without a cigarette."

"A week?!"

"Deal or no deal?"

"But-."

"Come on chose quickly! We're losing time right now!"

"O-Okay! Deal."

"Good." AL said with a slightly evil smile.

"So, so when does it start?"

"Mmmmmnnn-Now!" Al exclaimed before he turned around and ran as fast as he could.

"H-hey! Dammit Al!" Havoc yelled before he sprinted after him, despite his exhausted bodies pleading to stop.

* * *

Lillianette stood behind her boss, literally jumping for joy as her boss demolished the block of Earth.

"_Weee!_ Good job Sir! That was magnificent! That was beautiful! That was, was…Sir?"

Lillianette stared at her Boss for a moment. His shoulders were heaving and his body was shivering all over. Lillianette could tell that his body was not shaking and heaving with joy or extreme excitement as hers was, no; his body was shaking with rage. But why?

"Sir?"

"Damn them!" he yelled up to the sky.

"Sir! What's wrong?!"

"What's wrong?! What's _wrong?_ Look! Bloody look and see for your own eyes!"

Lillianette took a few hesitant steps forward. Lillianette had to wait a moment for the smoke to clear, but once she was able to see, she was filled with rage identical to her boss.

"NO!" she screeched as she stared at the smoldering remains. "No, no, no, no!"

Inside of the shelter, or at least what was left of it, were not the pulverized remains of Edward and Roy, but two alchemized mounds of dirt. Both of the mounds wore a crude expression along with a small hand that was formed so that it would give the two criminals the middle finger.

"God Dammit!" The man yelled as he threw his gun on the ground, looking very much like an over-sized child throwing a tantrum.

Little did they know, their original targets were a few yards away from them, watching this little temper tantrum and trying hard not to let a single snicker out.

"Good idea Edward." Roy whispered as the crazy man began taking out his frustrations out on a defenseless tree.

"Thanks Mustang. I knew that would by us some time. So what do we do now?"

"Well since I wouldn't dare get up in risk of making a noise that they could hear, I think we should wait here. Just until they get caught off guard."

"Or until they run out of ammo." Ed muttered as he flinched at the sound of splintering wood.

"Right."

The two men lay there, in a large pile of brush when they suddenly heard something behind them. Ed hesitantly looked over his shoulder and froze.

"Oh shit…"

* * *

"Al!" Havoc yelled, stopping dead in his tracks.

"What is it?!" Al yelled from his spot a few yards away.

"Did you hear that?"

"What?" Al asked as he jogged back to where Havoc stood.

"That noise. Did you just hear it? It sounded like…gunshots."

"Gunshots?" Al asked fearfully.

"Yeah. I was coming from this direction." Havoc said while pointing to his right.

"Well should we go that direction? We don't know who might be there."

"Yes but it could be one of those people. Ed and Mustang could be there."

"O-okay." Al said quietly before he began jogging with Havoc in their new direction.

_Please be okay brother…please be okay._

* * *

"Oh Shit." Ed whispered as he stared at what was behind them.

"Wha-?" Roy began as he turned around to see what had freaked Ed out.

Behind them stood two of the largest Chimeras that either one of them had ever seen. One had the body of an enlarged bull, with the head of a lion, and almost too tall legs, which were covered in the lions' thick yellow fur. The other appeared to be a very large horse. Or it would have been if it wasn't for the fact that instead of hair, the Chimera was covered in large, shiny, green scales. The horse creature suddenly let out a loud, reptilian, and extremely terrifying sound that seemed to silence the entire forest.

"Ahh…it appears that Crows has managed to join us." Roy heard Lillianette say with extreme eagerness evident in her voice.

Roy looked passed the two towering creatures and saw, to his dismay, that yes, the large man who had thrown him as if he had weighed nothing had managed escape. Crows arrival just added to Roy's ever mounting worries: his and Ed's survival, the deadly people that surrounded them, and now, what Crows had done to escape.

_Please be alright Riza…_Roy pleaded, not knowing what the fate of his ever loyal subordinate and girlfriend was.

"You two little rats can't hide forever." Crows whispered as he walked closer to the two completely cornered alchemists.

_We are so fucked…_

* * *

**So I have to say when I was writing the first part of this chapter with the Boss and Lillianette, it totally felt like it was Bellatrix fawning over Voldemort in the beginning of _Deathly Hallows. _I probably thought of it since I just started re-reading it. :P**

**So I hope you review lots! If you don't you'll be left at a cliff hanger _forever!_ (Am I kidding...? I don't know.)**

**See everyone soon!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello everyone! Thank you guys for the Five reviews I received last chapter!**

**Sorry, this one took a little longer than I expected it to take. (I've been having a bit of writers block) **

**Warning: I did not Edit this chapter at all! (except for spell check but I still bet I spelled something wrong) So please don't tell me every little thing that I did wrong in the reviews.**

**(I don't own FMA)**

* * *

Previously:

_Behind them stood two of the largest Chimeras that either one of them had ever seen…_

_Roy looked passed the two towering creatures and saw, to his dismay, that yes, the large man who had thrown him as if he had weighed nothing had managed escape…_

_We are so fucked…_

* * *

Crows tilted back his head, opened up his wide mouth, and let out several roaring laughs up to the heavens.

"So…should we make them beg for their lives or should we just let these monsters lose on the them?" Crows asked once his laughter had died down.

"Neither Crows, or at least, not right now. I have learned over the years that no matter who your opponent is, you should never underestimate them."

The boss walked slowly up the incline of the hill until he was standing directly in front of Roy and Edward. The portly man stared down at the two alchemists and smiled a wide grin that would be associated with that of a father smiling down at his children if it wasn't for the amount of pure and utter hatred that he held in his eyes.

Ed tried his best to push the fear from his eyes and glare back into his eyes with equal hatred. Ed tried to slowly inch his two hands closer and closer and deeply hoping that the man would not notice the small movements.

Unfortunately for Ed, he _did_ notice these movements.

Using extreme quickness and strength that no one could have ever assumed the older man possessed, the Boss quickly bent down, grabbed hold of Ed's slim wrists, pulled them behind Ed's body before smashing Ed's front into the dirty surface.

"Lillian-!" he began to call out before Roy attempted to knock him off of Ed.

An explosion of blue light sprung from the group and when the light cleared, Roy and Ed found themselves tied up; bands of Earth wrapped around their chests, and in Ed's case, his arms.

"Now, as there will be no further interruptions…" He trailed off for a moment before sending his foot into an unprotected area on Ed's side. "Let's begin with the fun."

"Yeah this is _totally_ fun for me." Ed growled as his side began to ache. "I just _absolutely _love being tied up so some Chimeras can go and eat me."

Roy was about to yell at Ed to shut the Hell up but his voice was covered up by a chorus of loud laughter. Roy stared at the man, would had just tied them up, laughing almost hysterically, as if Ed had just unleashed some big joke onto him.

"Oh, I'm going to miss this one." The man said as he gripped onto Ed's chin and forced Edward to meet his gaze.

Edward made a face up at the man just before Edward sent a bullet of saliva right into his face. The man quickly let go off Edward, but not before he sent his foot into his unrestrained stomach.

"That's what you get you little monster!" Lillianette shrieked as she attempted to wipe the spit from her boss's face. "How dare you spit in his face?! You should be grateful that this great man has allowed you to live this long!"

"Really? Because I thought we had managed to live this long was all because you and your beloved Boss are two of the biggest imbeciles I've ever had the misfortune of meeting and I'm just God damn lucky."

Roy let out a loud sigh as he was forced to listen Ed say these things. Sometimes Roy seriously wondered if Ed cared at all about making out of this mess alive. Roy stared over at the derange-looking women and tried to think if there was any way at all that they could get out of here.

_We're tied up…Edward's hands are tied up…there are two humungous Chimeras in front of us, just waiting to tear us limb from limb. No escape in sight._

It seemed that during Roy's moment of thought, Edward had pissed off their captures once again and were now screaming at him after hitting him in sensitive areas.

"Ugh…I've had enough of this." The man sighed as he ran a hand through his thinning dark locks. "Crows!"

"Yes Sir?"

"Let the beasts loose." He said calmly before moving out of the way.

"As you say Sir." Crows said eagerly as he moved towards the thick metal peg that held the chimera's chains.

"Oh! But…wait until me and dear Lillianette are some ways away. We wouldn't want to be caught in the cross fire, now would we."

"Yes Sir. Of course."

Crows quickly moved behind the two escaping criminals and watched them go to safety. Roy turned his head slightly so he could look at Edward better.

"Edward." Roy whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Huh?"

"Do you think we can get out of here?"

"Maybe…I might be able to move my hands slightly. Let me check."

Roy sat there as he listened to the sounds Ed made as he strained against his restraints. After some time, he heard Ed let out a loud and tired sigh.

"No luck." Ed muttered. "Damn it."

"Can you, I don't know, make a transmutation circle behind your back with your fingers or something?"

"I can try."

Ed adjusted his position so that his back was to Roy before quickly searching his mind, trying to remember the certain transmutation circle he needed for this situation. After much fiddling around, Ed let out a small noise of victory.

"You got it?"

"I think so. Can you see what it looks like?"

"Well I can tell you what it looks like but I have no idea what that transmutation circle is supposed to be."

"What does it look like then?"

"There's a larger circle with a smaller circle inside of it. Then there are two triangles inside of the two circles; they're pointing in opposite directions. Inside that is a small pentagon. That sound about right?"

"Yeah, does it all look straight?"

"Uh huh."

"Okay. It'll get his attention quickly so I have to do this at the right time. Can you see how far away he is?"

"I can't even see him. He must have gone over a hill or something."

"Can you get up?"

"Maybe."

Roy struggled up to his knees before falling onto his stomach.

"That would be a no."

"Alright. Here goes nothing."

Ed took a deep breath before he fell flat onto his back and hoping like Hell that this would work. The transmutation sliced through the restraints around his arms. Ed quickly pushed himself from the ground and brought his hands together before moving them to the restraints that were around his chest. Ed moved as fast as he could over to Roy, who was panicking slightly over the criminals yells. Ed bought his hands together once more and caused Roy's restraints to dissolve.

"Thanks." Roy said as he rubbed his soar flesh.

"No problem." Ed said, looking up in time to see Crows breaking the chains that kept the Chimeras at bay.

"Let's see you get yourself out of this one little Alchemist!" Crows laughed before he ran to safety.

"UGH! Quit calling me 'little'! I'm not a goddamn runt! I never was one and I'm defiantly not one now! Get it straight!"

"Edward quit it! We have bigger problems right now so I would really enjoy you growing up right about now!"

Ed stared at the two beasts. They had not moved yet, but Edward could tell that that wouldn't be the case in a few moments. Edward clapped his hands and brought them to the ground. Once the blue light had faded, Ed held in his hands a large and extremely dangerous looking spear.

"Hey Mustang."

"What?"

"Are you sure that you don't have one of you special little gloves with you?"

"Pretty sure."

"Well then stay out of my way. You'll only be a hindrance to me."

Roy wanted to scream and yell at this kid. He wanted to tell him that he _wasn't_ a hindrance, that he _wasn't_ useless, and that he_ could_ do something to help, but Roy knew that, yes, he wasn't any good in this situation.

"Come at me you little monsters." Ed said with his customary cocky grin. "Show me what you got."

* * *

"Riza!" Furey exclaimed as he ran towards the blond women.

"What is it Furey?" Riza asked as she stared at the worried sergeant.

Furey looked like a mess. His body was covered in sweat and his face was unusually pale. Once the young man had reached her, Furey doubled over and began to pant as if he had run a mile.

"What is it Furey?" Riza repeated when he didn't answer.

"C-Crows!"

"Who?"

"Crows…th-the criminal we captured. He, he escaped!"

"_what?!_" Riza exclaimed, losing her cool composure for a moment. "what do you mean 'he escaped'? How? When? Wasn't there people watching him?"

"Yes, yes! But I-I-I don't know what happened. I went to relieve the people who were watching over him but…"

"But what Furey?"

"There wasn't anyone there. They were all gone. The door was broken down. Only one of the guards was there but he was unconscious. The guard is being taken to one of the local hospitals."

"Have you gotten any word from Havoc or Breda?"

"None from what I've heard."

"Alright. Stay at your post and wait for word." Riza said quietly.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to try and see were that man got off to."

"Be careful." Furey warned with genuine fear in his eyes. "That man has superhuman strength."

"Don't worry, I will be fine."

Riza made her way over to were they were once holding the large man. S Furey described, the holding area was a mess. Riza could see blood smears all over the walls and other obvious signs of struggle. Shell cases littered the floor along with other general debris. Riza turned around and stared into the forest. A large path had been forcibly made; an obvious sign that someone or something had escaped through it. Riza checked her guns that were strapped to her hips, all were full of ammo, before she made her way into the forest.

* * *

"Dammit!" Ed exclaimed as one of the Horse/Lizards' large talons grazed Edward's back.

He had been at this for sometime now and was beginning to feel tired. Edward quickly ducked as a large lion paws made a swipe at the area were his head had been moments ago.

Ed clapped his hands and brought them to the ground. A large hand, made of earth, shot up from the ground and managed to grab onto one of the Bull/Lions' back legs. The creature let out a loud noise of anger, but Edward ignored it and put his remaining focus and energy on the reptilian bird. It was now flying low around its trapped friend.

Edward stared down at himself. His clothes were almost torn to shreds and he was covered in blood-

_I sure hope this isn't all my blood._

- and bits of the Chimeras' hair. His left arm had a large cut on it, thanks to one of the Bull/Lion's claws, and was not bleeding profusely. Ed's hair tie had been ripped from him during the fray and his hair was now stuck to his sweaty skin.

_What's the matter with me? I've taken down tons of Chimeras before and have come out fine. At this rate, I'll pass out from blood loss. I have to finish this up quickly._

"Come here little Birdie." Ed muttered as he stared into the Chimeras odd green eyes. "Play times over."

* * *

**Well, Thanks for reading! :)**

**Please review this chapter! All you have to do it his that little rectangle with the green writing and say something. (Preferably something nice.)**

**Bye, Bye!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello! Sorry for not updating in like a week, I've been busy.**

**Okay, if anyone noticed, last chapter at the end while Ed was fighting the chimeras, I had him say 'come here little birdie'. Yeah, did _anyone _notice that I didn't have a flying Chimera at all? Well, that's what I get for not editing and thinking about the fight scene in the first episodes with the bird Chimera. (Whoopsies!) Whatever, I'll go back and fix it sometime.**

**I didn't do that much editing in this chapter either so...I'm sure I'll find a bunch more mistakes later. But I still hope you enjoy!**

**(I don't own FMA)**

* * *

Edward ducked as a large taloned hoof swung in the precise area where Ed's head had been moments ago. Ed clapped his hands and attempted a transmutation, but his plan was foiled when a reptilian tail swung from behind the creature and forced Edward backwards.

"Edward!" Roy called out as Ed flew passed him.

"'m fine…" Ed muttered as he pulled himself from the wreckage his body had caused.

Once Edward had regained his footings, he repeated his prior movements and brought his hands to the forest ground. After the blinding blue light had faded, in his hands, Ed held a deadly sharp dagger-looking weapon.

Edward and the unrestrained Chimera's eyes locked for a moment. Ed let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding in before bolting up to the creature.

"Gotcha!" Ed exclaimed as his dagger broke through the beasts' unusually thick scale armor. Thick, sticky, and extremely dark blood shot into the air as Ed pulled his weapon out of the Chimera's side.

"Quit moving!" Ed growled as the Reptilian Horse Chimera dodged another strike from his bloodstained dagger.

The beast let out an unearthly noise that caused Edward's head to ache as he made contact with the beast again. Ed quickly dropped his weapon and clamped his hands to his ears to protect them from the ear-shattering screams the Chimera was making. The Chimera saw its opening and went for it. In breakneck speed, the Chimera crossed the few yards that separated the two before it went back on its back two legs and brought its other two legs directly into Ed's chest.

"Edward!" Roy called out before cringing at the sight of Ed colliding with a thickly barked tree. Roy quickly rushed over to the fallen alchemist when he did not stir.

"Edward…"Roy muttered as he turned over the blond alchemist. "Ed wake up."

His eyes were shut and a small trickle of blood was making its way down the side of his head. Roy quickly tried to block out the noises around him as he listened to Edwards' heartbeat. It was quick, but seeing as he was battling two Chimeras, Roy wasn't extremely worried about that.

"Ed…" Roy said as he gave Edward a small shake. "Edward, come on!"

With a final strong shake, Edward let out a small noise and his eyes began to flicker in attempt to open his tired eyes. Once his eyes had been unlidded, they revealed two, slightly dazed golden eyes.

"Wa' happened?" Ed muttered as he tried to sit up.

"You just got thrown across the forest and smacked against the tree." Roy answered as he helped Ed into a sitting position.

"Was I out for long?"

"No. Just a second or two."

"Good…"

The two men looked up when they heard several loud noises. Roy and Edward had looked up in time to see the Reptilian Horse help break the other Chimera out of its prison. Ed quickly sprung up and prepared to fight the beasts again, but was surprised when the two creatures gave his a look before turning around and running off into the other direction.

"Where are they going?"

"I'm not sure." Roy said as he got up and walked over to Edward. "Maybe they realize that they have a chance to run since their masters have left them."

"Maybe." Ed said quietly while staring off into the forest where the two Chimeras had run off into.

"BROTHER!"

Edward and Roy turned around and, to their extreme enjoyment, saw Alphonse sprinting up the incline to the two alchemists; Havoc was following in Al's footsteps up the hill.

"Brother!" Al repeated once he was closer to Ed and Roy.

"Al!" Ed exclaimed, clearly happy to see that his brother was fine.

Once Alphonse reached his older brother, he flung his arms around Edwards' neck and squeezed him tightly, while trying his best to keep his emotions under control. Edwards' face began to blush at Al's extremely open display of brotherly affection. It had been over a year since Al had done something similar to this, causing Ed to wordlessly sputter in slight embarrassment.

"Uh…A-Al?"

"I-I'm sorry brother." Al muttered as he tightened his already vice-like grip on his brother. "I was just…just _so_ worried about you."

"I understand Al but-can you maybe let go of me! You're kind of crushing my windpipe!"

"Sorry!" Al exclaimed as he let go up his brother.

"It's alright." Ed muttered as he massaged his soar throat.

"Edward. Mustang." Havoc said as he reached the gathering. "We were all worried sick about you two."

"I would hope so." Roy said with a small smile. "Now how did you two find us?"

"Luck."

"Well, let's try and contact the others. I'm quite exhausted and in desperate need of some food and a comfortable place to sleep." Roy said as he gave his aching bones a small stretch.

"Right." Havoc said as he pulled out the small wireless radio from his pocket and turned it on. "Hello?"

"_Havoc?"_ Riza's voice asked.

"Yes. Good news, we've found Ed and Roy. They're both alright."

"_Oh thank goodness." Riza said with a sigh of relief. "Well stay where you are and we'll try to get you location by getting your radio frequency." _

"We're not that far from the river actually. We can just start walking up it and you can send a rescue team to come and get us."

"_Alright. Well, I'll see you soon."_

"Okay. Bye-."

"_Wait."_

"What is it?"

"_I just remembered something important. That huge man Crows escaped."_

"Yeah. We know." Ed and Roy muttered together.

"What do you mean?" Havoc asked while turning to face the two.

"Crows came and sent two huge Chimeras on us."

"You were attacked by Chimeras!?" Al asked as he stared at the wounds that covered his brother's body.

"Yeah, but they got away."

"When?"

"Just before you got here."

"They're long gone by now." Roy muttered as he stared into the empty forest.

"_Okay, so you guys start walking up the river. I'll go radio Breda and inform him that he cam start making his way back to camp."_

"Right. Bye."

"_Bye."_

"So let's get walking." Roy said as he moved down the slope; Ed let out a small whine of annoyance at this remark, he was completely drained.

"Come on Ed. The sooner we get moving the sooner we can go and get some sleep." Al said with an encouraging smile.

"What are you talking about? I can sleep perfectly fine right here!" Ed exclaimed as he threw his arms up in to the air.

"Ed, quit being difficult and come on."

"'Being difficult'? I'm being difficult?! I think I have a good excuse for not wanting to go trekking back up the river if you ask me!"

"Well Roy has the same reason but you don't see him whining."

"Well that's all right and dandy for him if he wants to go! But I'm staying here!"

"Fine, we'll just leave you here." Roy said with an evil smirk.

"Can't you people wait five bloody minutes?!" Ed yelled as he let himself fall to the ground; for a moment, Al thought his brother was about to break out into a full-out tantrum. "If no one noticed, I have lost a shit ton of blood! I _need_ a break."

"I uses you do have a point there."

"Thank you." Ed muttered before he let himself collapse onto the forest floor.

Ed closed his eyes and forced himself to stay awake. After a few more moments of deep breathing, Ed slowly sat up before bringing himself into a standing position.

"Let's go." Ed mumbled as he commanded his feet to move forwards.

The other three men watched the weary teen walk for a moment before following in his footsteps.

* * *

"Roy! Edward!" Riza exclaimed as she saw the four men stumble into the camp.

After walking, or more along the lines of dragging their feet exceedingly slow, for some time, their rescue team arrived and took them to safety. They had just arrived back at their make-shift base camp.

"Is everyone alright?"

"Kinda." Al answered as he looked over his brother, Roy, Havoc, and himself.

"Well let's get you to a medic."

"I don't need a freaking medic." Ed growled quietly as he lifted his foot that appeared to weight a thousand pounds.

"Edward, you're crazy! Look at how cut up you are."

"I don't need a medic. What I _need _is a bed." Ed muttered before he fell forwards onto the ground. The others stared down at him for a moment, as if expecting him to pop up from the ground. Instead, a series of loud and genuine snores erupted from the blond, causing everyone in the vicinity to laugh.

"Same old Edward." Roy muttered before assisting Al in picking u his brother and dragging him to a safer place to rest.

* * *

**Hoped you liked it! :)**

***Announcement*So at my school, I'm in the stage crew for my high schools' Spring Musical. I'm telling you this because we are starting to do stuff (since spring is coming up soon) and we stay at school until, like, four or five. So updates, for probably the rest of the story, will probably be a bit farther in between. Sorry, but I need more extracurricular activities and stage crew if freaking awesome at my school.**

**See you next time! :D**


	14. Chapter 14

**Happy Super-Bowl Sunday...for those of you out there that actually care about that.**

**Anywho, thank you to everyone who review me last chapter! **

**(I don't own FMA)**

* * *

"So how are they doctor?" Riza asked the elderly doctor who was assigned to Edward and Roy's care.

"Well, they're a little banged up; nothing serious though." He added with a small smile. "Edward did lose quite a bit of blood but I'm sure he'll be fine after a good night sleep and some sustenance."

"Good. Are we allowed to see them?"

"Yes, yes. You may. But try not to stay too long; they both really need their rest."

"Of course."

"They're in room 301; it's on the third floor. Do you need a nurse to show you there?"

"No, we'll be fine. Thank you doctor."

The grey-haired man gave her a kind smile and a nod of the head before he turned and walked out of the hallway.

Riza turned around and walked into the waiting where Alphonse, Havoc, Furey, Falman, and Breda sat awaiting news. All of their heads instantly snapped up at the sight of her before sending a barrage of questions toward her.

"Are they alright?"

"Can we see them?"

"Is Brother going to be okay?"

"How is their condition?"

"Where's their room?"

"Are visiting hours over yet?"

Riza held up her hand to silence them all. They quickly stopped their rapid-fire questioning so that she could speak freely.

"The doctor said that they are going to be fine." Riza said, causing everyone to let out a sigh of relief. "We can go and see them but only for a little while. They have to stay, at least, over night for observation. Their room's 301."

The group quickly moved to the nearest elevator and went up to the third floor. After a bit of confusion with the room numbers, they arrived outside of Edward and Roy's hospital room. Riza opened the door and move quietly into the room.

Both Edward and Roy were asleep. Roy was not hooked up to any sort of annoying hospital machinery but Edward was attached to a small bag of dark crimson fluid that was unmistakably blood. Both of their faces were pale but it appeared that they looked that way for different reasons. Roy's face was pale with extreme weariness while Ed's complexion appeared pale due to his blood loss.

After Riza had looked over Ed and Roy several times and deemed them alright, she let out a small sigh before pulling a chair from the wall and moving it next to Roy's bed so she could be closer to him. Al walked over to his brothers' bed and stared down at him. He had been absolutely terrified when he saw Edward fall off of the cliff and had been unable to rest for a second. But now that Al was sure that his brother was safe and sound, his exhaustion hit him with full force, causing him to sink into the nearest chair.

The others were talking about things that Al's drained brain did not register. It took all of his powers to stop himself from shoving Ed out of the bed and crawling inside of it. He was exhausted and he needed to find somewhere to sleep…

"Alphonse?"

Al's eyes snapped open at the sound of Riza's voice suddenly close to his own ear. His fried brain quickly attempted to gain hold of the situation. A nurse was standing in the doorway and was smiling at him. When did she get here?

"Huh?" was what came out of his mouth.

"It's time to go. Come on. You're exhausted. Let's get you to a nice bed so you can have a nice, long rest."

"Bed…" Al muttered sleepily as he slowly pushed himself into a standing position.

Al could swear he heard Havoc laughing quietly at his zombie-like personality, but he couldn't care less. Later on, Al could only remember the walk to the elevator and then being helped into a car; after that it was a complete blur.

* * *

Al let out a low groan as the offending light attempted to wake him from his coma-like sleep. He was lying in a heavenly comfortable bed and he could hear someone talking in another room. After trying to fall asleep for several minutes, Al cracked his eyes and stared around the room.

He was in a bedroom that could only belong to a hotel of some sort. The walls were painted in a pale peach color and the floor was covered in a brown plush carpet. He was laying in one of two queen-sized beds in the room. The other bed was empty but had been obviously slept in. The floral curtains were closed, but a crack of offending light had managed to break into the room.

"What time is it…?" Al mumbled to himself as he searched for a clock.

Finally, Al's eyes found the green glow of a digital clock and jumped a little when he learned of the time.

"It's _four_ in the afternoon?"

Al tried to count back the hours he had been asleep but found it impossible to find an exact time since he had no idea it was when they got to the hospital. Al kicked off the thick comforter and walked to the door.

"Oh, you're finally up sleeping beauty!" Havoc said with a large grin once he saw Al slump into the hotel living area.

"Where are we?" Al asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"We're at a hotel near the hospital." Breda answered as he smirked at Al's disheveled appearance.

"Oh, okay…when can we go see them again?"

"Well we were waiting for you to wake up. But now that you're up, I guess we can go and check up on them. Riza's up there already."

"Good. Well then I'll just go get ready!"

"Right, we're leaving in fifteen minutes so if you're not ready, we're leaving without you."

* * *

They arrived at the hospital twenty-five minutes later. Al, having been half asleep when they had been there before, didn't really know the way and had to rely on the others, who were walking infuriatingly slow for him.

Roy was up and awake when they arrived, talking quietly to Riza. Ed however was a lump of mumbling blankets on his hospital bed. Roy and Riza looked up when they saw their friends had arrived.

"You guys aright?" Havoc asked as he looked from Roy to what he guessed was Ed.

"I guess." Roy said with a small shrug.

"Mghnnn…_shuup!_" something or someone whined from under Ed's heap of blankets.

"Oh so you're finally up Edward?" Roy asked while turning his attention to the occasionally moving heap.

"Yes!" Ed roared as he pulled himself free of his tomb of fabric. "I've been awake for _hours!_ Do you have any idea how _loud_ and _annoying _you are?!"

Everyone in the room stared at the yelling blond and tried not to laugh. Edward's long hair was mussed up in the most epic case of bed head. Even though he had slept for hours, dark circles still lingered underneath his crazed-looking gold eyes. Edward looked like a complete an utter mad man as he ranted on and on.

"Alright Edward we get it." Riza said in a stern voice that stopped Edwards' speech. "We are sorry that we woke you and we'll try to be more considerate next time."

"_Pff_. Next time? Hell, next time you guys want to visit I'll have to make sure there isn't any bullshit going on in the area so I know that you aren't trying to rope me into another wild scheme!"

Al couldn't help but laugh at his brothers antics. He just looked and sounded ridiculous.

"What are you laughing about?" Ed asked once he heard the small noise that had managed to slip between Al's lips.

"Oh nothing." Al said as he tried to regain an innocent expression.

Ed stared down his brother for another moment before he sat back in his bed and folded his arms across his chest, looking very much the part of an overgrown child after throwing a fit.

"Well now that we're all awake, I think that we should discuss what went on the past day." Roy said.

"Are you sure it's safe to do that here?" Breda asked while staring out of the window.

"No, but we have to regroup quickly or else it might be too late."

"So where should we start?" Furey asked while staring at the others.

"How about what happened after me and Edward fell off of the cliff."

For the next few hours, the group began retelling each others version of what had happened over the pass day or so. Once all had been revealed, the team slowly pieced things bit by bit.

"And you're sure neither of you remember if the boss or either of his hench-men said where they were gong to?" Riza asked.

"No." Ed and Roy answered together.

The group now redirected their focus on where their headquarters was located. Unfortunately, they had only a general clues as to where they could be, and right now, general was not good enough.

"So what do we do now?" Ed asked angrily as he stared at the wall were they had written down and tacked up all of their information on the terrorist group. "Go to Central and start banging on every shady looking building and hope that the terrorists answer?"

"No-."

"Then what the Hell do we do?" Ed asked angrily.

"Well we're trying to figure that out Edward! Now calm down before I make you calm down." Roy growled while glaring at the teen.

"…I'd like to see you try." Ed muttered before he sat back down on his bed.

"Falman." Roy barked as he tore his glaring eyes away from the sulking teenager.

"Yes sir?"

"Hand me the box of things you collected from their hideout outside of Azeum."

Falman quickly bent down, picked up the heavy box of items and brought them over to his boss. Roy hurriedly picked thought the box until he found the item he was looking for.

"Found it…" Roy muttered as he hastily read through the document.

"What is it Roy?" Riza asked as he got out of bed and moved to the small map Roy had procured from the nursing staff.

Roy moved his finger throughout the Central area on the map before it stopped on a certain location a few miles away from the center of the city. He then turned to the group and said, "I know where their headquarters are."

* * *

**Oooh, looks like there's going to be a little action next chapter!**

**Sorry if this chapter was a bit dry or filler-y, but I had to leave it here so I could set up the next chapter were I needed it to be.**

**Please review this for me so I can get right onto the next chapter!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Yay! Chapter 15! I can't believe how far this story's gotten when it feals like I just put up the first chapter! **

**Thank you, all of you who reviewed! Hope you enjoy!**

**(I don't own FMA)**

* * *

"_Ed…when are you going to come home?" _Winry asked over the train phone.

"I'll come home when Mustang's done dragging me and Al around." Ed answered as he stared out at the rapidly moving scenery.

"_Ugh. And how long do you think that will be?" _Winry asked in a mixed tone of worry and annoyance.

"A day or two."' Ed responded truthfully. "Maybe a bit more if Mustang really fucked up on this one."

"_And what exactly is it that you're doing?"_

"I told you Win-."

"_No you did not."_ Winry growled. _"All you said was that Mustang needed you and Al for something and you'd probably be done in a day. A day! It's almost been a week!"_

"It has not. You're being overdramatic. It's only been three days."

"_Four."_

"Whatever. But I'm sorry Win. I've gotta go."

"_Wait just one minute Edward Elric."_

"What?" Ed asked before he let out a small groan.

"_You never said what the Hell you where doing!"_

Ed let out a small sigh and rubbed the back of his head, much like when he would used to call Winry saying that he just bust his brand new automail and needed her right away. Ed had no choice but to tell her the truth. When he spoke, he lowered her voice, so that no one could overhear him.

"Mustang needed some extra help on some terrorist thing and now he thinks he's found where they're hiding out at, happy?"

"_No. Why do you and Al have to go with him? Are you even allowed? I mean, you're not in the army anymore."_

"Yeah well since when has either me or Mustang ever been keen on following the rules? Don't worry, we'll all be fine."

"…_fine."_ Winry finally said in a slightly defeated voice. _"But I expect a full explanation when you get back!"_

"Yeah, yeah."

"_Make sure you stay safe."_

"I'll try."

"…_I love you."_

"Love you too Win." Ed said, a small smile gracing his features.

"_Bye."_

"Bye."

Ed let out another sigh as he hung up the phone. He hated worrying Winry all the time, but he couldn't help it: It was physically impossible for him to live a quiet and safe life. Ed put his hands into his coat pockets before turning and walking back to his seat next to his brother.

"So what did Winry say?" Al asked while not even taking his eyes off of the book that he held in his hands.

"What do you think she said?"

"Probably something along the lines of 'why the Hell do you need to go off, risking your life when you're not even I the military anymore?'"

"Pretty much."

They were on their way to Central in hopes of finding the terrorists' headquarters. After a few more hours of riding the train, they arrived at their destination, thankfully without a train derailing this time.

"So where to General Bastard?" Ed asked with a large grin as he stretched his arms up into the air.

"I'm going to choose to ignore that first part." Roy muttered as he stepped off of the train.

* * *

The land was brown and barren. The wind blew around the near-empty landscape, picking up and depositing sand and dirt as it moved along. A few dilapidated building and warehouses stood in the distance, proof that people had once lived here. The sights and sounds of the nearby city were drowned out by the winds and the forever-standing sand dunes. It appeared that no one had stepped foot in this land since it was originally abandoned. But that was a lie. There were tons of people living, or at least working, in the area, but just like the lizards and over desert-like creatures, they were hiding from the bright morning sun.

In a closer inspection, once the winds had died down, you could tell that it was true. For not every building appeared to be a mere skeleton of their former self. A small clump of buildings showed signs of rebuilding and nearby those buildings sat cars and vans filled with supplies; supplies that would be needed for a government uprising.

"Boss! You've returned!" exclaimed one of the many occupants of the least dilapidated buildings. Many of the other cronies ran over to him in excitement.

"Yes, yes…" he said in a weary voice.

"Did you do what you needed to do?"

"Enough!" Lillianette shouted as she attempted to push away the onslaught of newcomers. "What we did or did not accomplish is of no need to you. If you were important enough to know, you would have been informed long beforehand! Now go. Go before I make you."

With Lillianettes' threat in their mind, the once crowded entry way became suddenly empty except for the three. Lillianette turned to her boss, with sympathy in her narrow dark eyes, and took his coat and placed it onto am old coat rack.

"I'm sorry. I should have called ahead and told them not to bother you."

"It is fine my dear. Just get me up to my room so I must rest and plan our next attack."

"Yes Sir! Crows!" she yelled at the man who was only a few feet away from her, causing the behemoth man to jump slightly.

"Yes madam?"

"Are you deaf?! GO! Help him up to his room! Can't you see he needs rest?!"

"Yes, come Crows. Take my bags." he ordered while motioning to the few heavy bags they had with them.

Lillianette watched as the two men walked through the archway and walked up the stairs before he turned to stare out of the dirty window.

_How could those army bastards know where we were? And who was that little army brat? He didn't look anywhere near old enough to go in and get out of the military and yet he seemed to understand exactly what was going on. _

"We must stay on our toes from now on." she muttered to herself. "We have no more room for mess ups or mistakes. Not if we want to achieve our goal."

Lillianette sharply turned on her heals and followed her Boss and subordinate up the stairs.

* * *

Sand flew at the army-Jeep car as the plowed through the desolate ground. Riza, Roy, Edward, and Alphonse sat in the car as it jumped over hills and rocks. Havoc, Breda, Furey, and Falman had stayed behind, agreeing to do so in case another attack happened and help was needed.

"Are you _sure_ this is where their base is?" Ed asked as he stared at the blank landscape.

"No, but it's the best bet we have."

"How much farther do you think it is? I don't see a damn thing and unless their base is underground, I think we'll still have some time to go."

"Be patient for once Edward."

"Are you aware of who you're talking to Mustang?" Al said with a smile. "Ed, patient? Yeah right."

"Oh shut it Al." Ed said while playfully punching his arm.

"But seriously, how long do you think this will take?" Al asked.

"I really don't know. And Hell, maybe I was wrong and they're not even here. They could be somewhere totally different."

"Well that's comforting."

* * *

When the sun sat high in the sky, small shadows began to appear across the horizon. As the car grew closer and closer, the blurs began to reform into a more definite shape. Broken down and abandoned buildings and warehouses lay across the land, sending waves of excitement into the occupants of the car.

"You think we've found it?" Ed asked as Riza stopped the car in the shadow of a once grand building.

"Maybe. Only way to find out now isn't there?"

The four people crept from the car and moved into the darker part of the shadow, as if they were already being watched even through there was no one in sight.

"Where should we start off at?" Riza asked as she glanced at the skeleton structure of a building.

"Let's go and try to find the most in-tact buildings and work from there."

After skulking around each and every building, they found the one and only building that appeared to fit all of the terrorist hideout criteria. Several supped-up cars lay parked around the building. Yells and shouts came out of the building, proving that humans were there.

"Should we split up?" Al questioned, turning to Roy.

"Perhaps. First, let's find a way in."

The four slipped around the shadow of the building in search of an entrance that wasn't the front door. As Ed turned a corner of the building, his eyes found something that created a spark in his head.

"Ah-ha." Ed whispered with a grin as he reached up to grip the rusty fire escape.

After testing the rusty, metal's strength for a moment, Ed pulled himself up and began to slowly climb up it.

"_Edward._" Roy hissed as he caught sight of the blonds' ascension up the fire escape.

"What?" Ed growled back.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to get inside the freaking building!" Ed hissed back before he continued on with his climbing.

"Well…what for me!" Roy growled as he heaved himself up and began climbing after him.

"Since when have I ever done anything like that?" Ed whispered as he reached the second floor platform.

As Ed and Roy peaked into the room, their gazes were met by at least twenty armed henchmen.

"HEY! WHAT THE 'ELL ARE YOU DOIN' 'ERE!" one of the men yelled before taking out one of his guns and began firing at Ed and Roy.

"DAMMIT!" Ed shouted as he narrowly missed the bullets that whizzed passed him.

"QUICK! Tell Boss we've got some rats on level two!"

"Oh no, you won't." Ed muttered as he brought his hands together.

* * *

**Things are starting to get a little sticky here.**

**Please review lots! :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Thank you very much to everyone who reviewed last chapter!**

**I hope everyone loves this chapter! And please leave a review for me!**

***I didn't do much editing on this chapter so...**

**(I don't own FMA)**

* * *

Previously:

_As Ed and Roy peaked into the room, their gazes were met by at least twenty armed henchmen._

"_HEY! WHAT THE 'ELL ARE YOU DOIN' 'ERE!" one of the men yelled before taking out one of his guns and began firing at Ed and Roy._

"_DAMMIT!" Ed shouted as he narrowly missed the bullets that whizzed passed him._

"_QUICK! Tell Boss we've got some rats on level two!"_

"_Oh no, you won't." Ed muttered as he brought his hands together._

* * *

Ed slammed his hands onto the ground and created a large wall that stood in front of Roy and Ed.

"Great!" Roy shouted over the hail of gunfire. "Now what are supposed to do?!"

"I don't know! How about you come up with an idea for once!"

"Well for starters I suggest you ether make a new wall or we get the fuck out of here before we get shot!"

Ed nodded and clapped his hands but instead of putting his hands to the ground, Ed got up and slammed his hands onto a piece of exposed steal. The steal stretched and reformed as a sheet covering the entire window. Several screams and yells sounded afterwards, probably due to ricochets breaking the skin of the criminals.

"Let's try to get to the next floor." Roy said as he got up from his crouched position.

Ed nodded in agreement before he got up and followed Roy up the rusting metal steps. Once they reached the third floor, the two men peered cautiously into the dark room which, after a quick inspection, appeared to be empty.

"Stay on your toes." Roy whispered as Ed stepped into the room.

"You don't have to tell me twice."

They only light that entered the room was through the window that Roy and Ed had just climbed through. The room appeared to be a kind of storage room, since it was filled with crates.

"SECCURE ALL OF THE THIRD FLOOR!" yelled someone from outside the closed door. "MICHEALS! GO INTO THAT ROOM OVER THERE! THEY RAN UP THE FIRE ESCAPE AND THE ROOM PASSES IT!"

"Yes Sir!"

Roy and Ed glanced at each other, both looking worried. Should they try to hide from the men? Or should they try to fight off the man before he was able to report back to whoever was barking out commands.

"_What do we do?_" Roy whispered urgently.

"Look!" Ed exclaimed while pointing up at the ceiling.

"What?"

"It's a vent. And it looks pretty big." Ed said as he climbed on top of a few stacked crates and took off the grate with some quick alchemy. "You got any better ideas?" he asked when he saw that Roy hadn't moved much.

"Hey! This damn door is jammed! Get me something to pry it open!" shouted the voice from outside the door, but this time it sounded much closer.

Roy quickly scrambled across the crates and pulled himself into the vent next to Ed.

"What do we do now?"

"We can either see where this leads to or we can wait and pummel that guard when he comes in here."

"…Let's go with plan B."

* * *

"GUARDS!" shouted a man in the busy hallway of the terrorist Headquarters. "WE NEED GUARDS TO THE THRID FLOOR!"

Several battered and bruised looking guards rushed passed the man and down the stairs that lead to the lower levels.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" Lillianette cried as she saw the state of pandemonium the headquarters was in.

"Intruders Miss." answered the now nervous-looking guard.

"INTRUDERS?! HOW CAN THER BE INTRUDERS?! AND WHY AREN'T THEY CAUGHT YET?!"

"I-I'm sorry Miss! W-We're trying but no matter how hard we try we j-just can't get to them in time b-before…"

"Before what exactly?" Lillianette asked in a deadly quiet tone, which somehow was heard over the din of the hallways, while gripping the man's shirt with her long, painted black nails.

"They're alchemists!" the guard shouted. "Both of them! We can't get to them!"

"Alchemist?" Lillianette asked while letting her hand drop from the man's shirt. "Has anyone been able to see what they looked like?"

"N-no. They've all been attacked before anyone can see anything at all! All you see if blue light and then you're out…"

Lillianette stopped listening to the cronies frantic excuses for why they were unable to catch the two yet. She had lost what he was saying when he said 'alchemists'.

_Two of them. It can't be them. I have to check with Crows. He was supposed to finish the job, but if those two are the ones who are the cause of this mess…Crows will be just as dead as Geriff._

Lillianette quickly sprung up the flight of stairs and up to the top floor where she knew she would find Crows, watching over their resting Boss as she had ordered him to do while she went to see what the commotion was down stairs.

"_Crows!_" she hissed so as not to wake up her beloved Boss. The large man looked at her for a moment before getting up.

"What is it _ma'am_?" he asked in a slightly bitter voice; while they were both right-hand men, Lillianette had made it clear that if it wasn't for his bruit force, he wouldn't be so 'chummy' with her or the Boss, telling him quite clearly that she was the Boss's only number two and he would have to show her respect.

"You disposed of those alchemists right?" She said, getting right to the point.

"Wha'?"

"The alchemist, the alchemists! From outside of Azeum! The little blond one and the older dark one! _The alchemists you were supposed to get rid of so we would be sure that no one could follow us!_"

The large man's mouth shaped itself into a big 'O' shape at the realization of what the women was talking about.

"Uh, yeah I sent them Chimeras on the two. Heard a bunch of screamin' and yellin'."

"Yes, yes! But are you sure that they actually _killed_ the two?!"

"Well who the hell would survive after something like that?"

"I'll tell you who!" Lillianette gripped onto the front of Crows' shirt and pulled him down to her level so that she could whisper what she was about to say next into his ear. "There are two alchemists down on level three and they are causing a big damn hole in our plan! So you better hope that those are two different alchemists downstairs!"

Lillianette let the man go and stared into his now slightly terrified eyes so that she made sure that he understood the situation at hand.

* * *

"I think we should try and get up to the next floor now." Roy muttered.

"Why do you think that?"

"Because I'm pretty sure that everyone in the damn building knows where we are so if they are all down here, then we can sneak easier up to where the Boss is."

Edward and Roy had been hiding in the ventilation system for what appeared to be about an hour now. They had been able to move from room to room on the third floor, causing some confusion amongst the cronies as they constantly were in the wrong room. Ed had been initially worried about how much noise it would be for them to climb up the ventilation shaft but after listening to all of the shouts and hails of gunfire, that worry was quickly eradicated.

"Alright. But that means we have to try and find were that blasted shaft was."

"Well I'm pretty sure it was back there." Roy said while motioning over his shoulder.

"Right, you lead the way then."

* * *

Ed clapped his hands and placed them inside of the ventilation shaft. Once the light had disappeared, small indentations were left in the walls that could be used as foot and hand holds.

"It looks to be about ten feet up." Roy muttered as he stared up into the dark hole.

"Yeah so don't fall." Ed said as he began to climb up. "Besides, I don't think this old chunk of metal could take your fat ass crashing down on it."

All Roy could do was force his hands from snapping at Ed's backside and promise the evil voice in his head that he would deal with Ed when they were in a better location.

Once they reached the fourth floor vent system, they ran into a slight problem: the vents were not as in tact as they had been on the third floor.

"What should we do?" Ed asked as he poked his head through the gaping hole in front of him.

"Maybe this is our stop." Roy said as he too stuck his head out and looked around. The corridor was completely empty.

"I have an idea." Ed said as he let himself fall from the ventilation system.

"Where are you going?" Roy hissed as he jumped through the man-sized hole.

"Do you know where the stairs are?"

"Stairs?"

"Yeah. I had an idea to seal off the stairs to the lower floors so that most of the people would be trapped down there."

"That actually sounds like a good idea. I think they might be over this way." Roy said as he attempted to read the extremely old and dirty plaques that were nailed onto the walls.

Roy and Edward walked carefully around the halls until they found what they were looking for. Unfortunately, around the steps were several guards and below that were crowds of frantic and scared looking people.

"On the count of three, I'll snap." Roy whispered as quietly as humanly possible. "Hopefully we can knock those guards down and then you can do what you need to do."

Ed nodded to Roy. He wanted to mention something about what would happen if there were guards hiding behind the two, plotting similar things but Ed knew that that would be a waist and they had limited time here.

"1…2…3…"

_Snap! _BANG!

The frighten guards toppled backwards and everyone in the hallway stopped to stare at Ed who was now beginning step two of their plan.

"THERE THEY ARE!"

"QUICK! CATCH THEM!"

"SHOOT!"

But they were all too slow for Ed and in a few seconds, a large wall appeared in front of Ed, causing them to be locked inside the building.

Ed and Roy gave each other a small smile before they turned around and flew up the stairs. After they had reached a new floor, Ed would turn around and seal off that floor, ensuring that they had as little company as possible.

At last, they had reached the last flight of stairs that would lead them up to the Boss and, most likely, his obsessive subordinate.

"You ready for this?" Roy asked before sending Ed a cocky smirk.

"I should be asking you that you old man."

The two stared each other down for a moment before they moved forwards up the stairs.

* * *

**Dun, Dun, DUUUUUN. Nice place to leave this at right? Well if you want to find out sooner you best review as fast as your little hands can move!**

**...I'm starting to feel a little sad. If you haven't noticed, this story is probably going to be finished soon and I never like to end stories. But there should still be a few more chapters coming so no one be too sad!**

**PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Sorry! I know I haven't updated in a while but I got sick and then my computer wouldn't work and I've been super busy with school stuff and I'm sorry!!!!**

**Please enjoy this chapter! I just wrote just about all of it today since we have had another wonderful snow day! :D**

**(I don't own FMA)**

* * *

Sand swirled outside on the barren land. For some odd and unknown reason, the building seemed oddly quiet.

_Perhaps they've all gone down to the lower levels, _The Boss thought.

Everything was going according to plan. Everything he had hoped and dreamed for years was finally going to become a reality. No more bumps in the rode, no more military people to try and stop him-

_Thanks to Crows._

-no more hiccups in his beautiful plan to change the extremely disorderly military with its appalling morals. Yes. Everything would soon be perfect.

The Boss walked over to a large open crate of ammunition and weapons and pulled out a large shotgun. He then pointed it out of the empty window and pulled the trigger. As the shot rang out over the empty land, he let out a laugh.

"What's so funny?" a voice asked from behind him.

Whoever spoke, it wasn't a voice he recognized. The only people who were allowed to disrupt him in his personal room were Crows and Lillianette; anyone else who did where dead meat. He turned to see who had the nerve to bother him.

"Who are you two?" he barked as he glared at the two men, one blond and smug looking, and the other Black haired and serious looking.

"Oh, no one." The blond said in a casual tone as he stepped closer to him. "We're just two people that you and your cronies have rubbed the wrong way."

"What are you talking about?" he spat as he tightened his grip on his shotgun.

"Don't remember us do you?" asked the black-haired man.

"If I did I think I would have made some mention of it by now. Now, get out of my room before I have you taken away by force!"

"_Ooh,_ I think you'll have a problem with that part." sneered the blond.

"What do you mean by that?"

"We mean that it is impossible for anyone of the lower floors to come up here, well at least, not without taking a while." The black haired man said as he moved closer to him.

"W-Who are you people? How did you find us?"

He was worried now. How could just anyone stumble upon their hide-out, incapacitate all of his guards, and reach him without so much as a scratch? No, these people didn't come here by accident, they came here with purpose. But how could they know so much about them? A sudden thought was brought to his mind and it made a grin come to his face.

"Military." He whispered while barely moving his lips.

"What?"

"You're military. You two. You have come here for revenge on what we've been doing to your little country. I'll congratulate you for coming this far but unfortunately for you, this is as far as you'll come!"

"Well I'll say that you're right on some parts," said the blond who looked annoyed. "But no way in Hell am I military. I'm done with that shit."

"Oh really? Then why, may I ask, are you helping the military? To me, you sound like a person whose already been rubbed by the military in the wrong way."

"Hell yeah I'm sick of the military." He growled.

"Then why are you helping them? Why don't you come over to my side and help me with my dream of fixing the military? Huh? We could change it and this blasted country for the better."

"Hmm, it looks like you and this crack-pot have something in common Mustang." He said while turning to the other.

"_Mustang_? You mean _Roy Mustang_? Hero of Ishbal, Mustang?"

He let out another laugh, even though he was not sure why he was doing it, because if this man was who he thought he was, then he should have been afraid. Maybe he was doing it to hide his fear. He didn't know.

"And so what if I am?" Roy asked as he glared at him.

"Well then I just know what I'm up against don't I? Flame alchemy. But would you dare use it in this room filled with ammunition?"

_But who is this other boy? He looks familiar but…he says that he already been in and out of the military when he doesn't look older than 18. Who the hell is he?_

"It doesn't mater how we're going to take you down, as long as we do it. We have othe ways of making you plead for mercy." Said the blond.

"And who might you be?"

"None of your business." He growled.

"Ooh, feisty little thing aren't you?"

"Who are you calling little when look like an angry garden gnome?!"

"Hmm…I don't think I know off you."

"Like I care if you know of me or not."

"But who are you, when you have already been in and out of the military at such a young age and yet you are still willing to help the very same military?"

"That's none of your gad damn business! I told you we should have just ambushed him and gotten everything over with." He added as he turned to Roy.

"Well if you hadn't started talking so much with this guy, we might have had to have this conversation Edward."

"_Edward?_"

The Boss studied him over for a second. Long blond hair and gold eyes. Edward Elric had been instated into the State Alchemy Program when he was just 12 and he apparently resigned when he was 16. Elric had been under Mustangs' command while he was in the military too. But there was a problem; if this was really Elric…he was missing something.

"Could you possibly be a Mr. Edward Elric?"

Edward turned and glared at him, his eyes practically screaming that he was right.

"So what if I am?"

"I was just curious because…Edward Elric was supposed to have Automail prosthetics for a right arm and a left leg. And as I see it, both of your arms are completely whole."

Edward moved his left arm and, it appeared subconsciously, gripped onto his right arm.

"Ahh…so you had found it." He said in a greedy whisper.

"Found what?"

"The Philosophers' Stone. The fabled stone that would be the only thing possible of reviving your lost limbs."

"Well what would you do if I said you were right?" Ed asked in an angry tone.

"Give it to me." he whispered. "Give me the stone."

Edward and Roy exchanged exhausted glances. Was he just another crack-pot searching for the stone so he could too create an eternal army? Ed let out a deep breath before he turned back to look at him.

"Don't have it."

"W-what are you talking about?! Of course you have it! You restored your lost limbs! Give it to me!"

"Like I said, I don't have it! So you can throw away your dreams of having your…your _immortal army_ or whatever."

"Oh it just wouldn't be an immortal army. I could create inconceivable amounts of Chimeras. I could restore those who have been left crippled and poor from the military and their useless wars! I could punish those who have done horrible things! I could restore all of Amestris to greatness!"

"Okay I've had enough of him; can we please just get rid of him?" Ed asked as he turned to Roy.

"OH YOU WILL NOT GET RID OFF ME SO EASILY!"

The man brought his shotgun up and pulled the trigger. The bullet whizzed in between Roy and Edward with a deadly accuracy that was close to Riza's. Ed let himself drop to the ground and touched the floor with is hands, causing the usual blinding blue lights. When the lights had disappeared, a long and sturdy blade was in Ed's hand.

"So I see the rumors were true and you don't need transmutation circles."

"Why don't you just shut up?" Ed growled before he got up from his crouched position and sprung forward, looking ever bit like an angry jungle cat about to attack its prey.

From the crate that stood next to him, the Boss pulled out a large and heavy machine gun. But instead of firing it at Ed, he was forced into using it as a shield so that his jugular wouldn't be sliced open.

SNAP

A small bullet of fire shot at him and landed an inch away from were the man had been standing. Just as he was about to say something to Roy, he was cut off when Ed brought his knife down and forced him to leap and fall onto the ground.

"Just give it up." Ed said as he moved over him and placed the blade an inch away from his throat. "You're done for either way. Might as well go with a tiny bit of your dignity in tact."

"You think I'm done? Well then you're in for a bit of a surprise."

Ed stared down at the man in disbelief. Next to his hand was a small transmutation circle. Before Ed could react, he activated the circle. Ed jumped backwards from the man as a large spike shot up from the ground.

SNAP!

Another small and deadly accurate sot of fire was directed at him again, this time coming close enough to singe his graying hair.

"Why are you playing around Mister Flame Alchemist?! I know you could burn me to a crisp without even damaging anything around me! Why don't you just finish me off?!"

"Because even though being incinerated isn't the most pleasant way to die, I won't let you off that easily. I won't let you get off so easy."

* * *

**Ooooh, so what do you think is going to happen?**

**Please review for me! You know you want to push that little green button!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hello everyone! Sorry for the wait but I've been having some writer's block...again. : ) But I'm back!**

**Thanks for the reviews I got last chapter, they all made me very happy. So, without any further interruptions, I give you the last chapter of Working Vacation. (trying not to cry) Please enjoy!**

**(I don't own FMA)**

* * *

CLAP!

Edward pressed his hands to the ground and illuminated the dusty room. The floor that sat underneath one of the crates of ammunition suddenly began to sag and liquefy and was now slowly absorbing the large and heavy crate, as if it had turned into quick sand.

The Boss stared, panic starting to spread over his face, as the very tip of one of the guns was sucked into the floor before it fell to a lower level with a loud clatter. Edward glared at him as he readied his hands to repeat the alchemic process. The Boss' hand shot over to another nearby crate and, without so much as a seconds notice, he began to shoot round after round of bullets at the place were Edward had been standing. Edward flew to the other side of the room while doubled over as he tried to escape from the rain of bullets.

"EDWARD!" Ed heard Roy shout as Ed let out a pained cry when one of the bullets grazed the back of his leg.

Dust was flying all over the room as the bullets shattered and chipped the floor, crates, furniture, and anything else that it touched. Roy was too busy trying to dodge the ricocheting bullets around him to pay attention to were Edward had run off to. Roy squinted his eyes in an attempt to zero in on the gun-slinging man as the dust in the room continued to thicken.

Ed skidded to halt as he passed an open metal crate that he could fit in and sat down in it.

_How the hell am I supposed to get near this guy?_

* * *

"Riza!" Havoc shouted as he came closer to her; Riza turned to look at him.

"What is it Havoc?"

"Have you gotten any word to Central Command yet?" Havoc asked in a tone of slight urgency.

"No. I was planning on waiting until we had gotten some sort of message from Roy before we contacted them o anything. Why do you ask?"

"Well you know how Furey and Falman went straight to Central Command and they were to wait for their orders there?"

"Well of course, I told them to. Why, what's wrong?"

"Apparently some of the higher ups are starting to get suspicious. Most of them watch what Mustang and the rest of us are doing constantly, knowing what we did before. Well apparently someone let it slip that we had a little business in the eastern sector that wasn't exactly vacation activities-."

"Do you know who let it slip?" Riza asked urgently, cutting Havoc off.

"No. I've already contacted the command center around Azeum but no one knows who the one that did it."

"Damn." Riza muttered. "Did anyone from Central attempt to contact Roy or any of us that aren't there right now?"

"I'm not sure. I'll call Furey and ask him."

"Good."

Riza watched Havoc run off into the opposite direction before she turned back to look at the large building in front of her. There was much muffled screaming coming out of the lower levels but as far as she could tell, it had stopped right in the middle.

_Where are they?_Riza wondered.

The sound of gunfire broke through her thoughts. Riza craned her neck to the very top floor where the gunfire seemed to be centered. Who was causing the commotion? And why where they doing this? Were Roy and Edward up there? All of these thoughts floated into her mind as she turned around and began to move towards were Havoc stood as he yelled into a small radio set.

As Riza opened her mouth to speak to Havoc, a loud explosion drowned out the word coming out of her mouth. Riza and Havoc turned to stare at the sight; dust, smoke, and fire were blocking out most of the scene.

Finally, once most of the air had cleared, they looked up and saw that most of one of the wall son the top floor had been blown apart. Riza squinted her eyes against the bright sun long enough to see someone standing at the very edge. Who was it?

* * *

Ed gripped onto his wounded leg so he could attempt to stop the blood that was now steaming through his fingers and onto the floor.

SNAP!

Edward ducked his head as a chunk of wood went flying over him. Cautiously peering over the nearest crate, Ed caught a glimpse of orange flames that were circled around the now terrified looking Boss.

"Why don't you just finish me off already?" he asked in a weary and wheezy voice.

Roy ignored his statement. Instead, his eyes traveled over to were Ed was now sitting, crouched. Roy's eyes flickered from him to a spot on the opposite side of the room. Ed, in return, gave him a questioning glance. Edward could almost hear Roy sigh in annoyance before he brought his gloved hand again and began rubbing his finger and thumb together.

Ed, after finally getting the message Roy was trying to tell, nodded and bean to slink across the floor and into position.

"So what are you two planning?" The Boss asked.

"So you did see that?" Roy said with a small smirk on his face. "I was wondering if you were capable of paying attention in your condition."

Now that he had a better view, Ed noticed that his face was extremely pale and he was clutching his right shoulder with his left had, both covered in copious amounts of blood.

"You should give me more credit then. Because I know _exactly _what you two are about to do."

"Oh really?" Roy asked in mild surprise as he tightened his fingers so that a small poof of smoke went into the air.

"Yes…"

"Well then, there's no reason for me to go into some long and boring speech as to how I'm going to defeat you and just get on with it."

SNAP!

Fire shot out and landed on a large crate of ammunition that sat near the wall. The Boss, now thinking that he was safe, looked up at Roy. As he opened his mouth to speak, several things happened at once.

First, Roy sprung backwards behind a sturdy looking metal crate and hid. Next an enormous shout rang out similar to that of a cannon and most of the wall had been blown off. Finally, Ed sprung out from his hiding place and performed some of the fastest alchemy he had ever seen, causing him to be thrown sideways until he had almost fallen out the gapping hole in the wall.

He stood up on trembling legs and stared at the blond and grinning alchemist. How could he do this? Why would he do this? Why would this boy side with these man-killers after he had already been wronged by them? It made no sense. None of it.

"Why…?" he asked weekly as he collapsed onto the ground. "Why did you have to do this? I was only trying to save us all. Save my beloved country and her people from the wicked and cruel military that controls it."

"Was that what you were trying to do?" Ed asked in a slightly surprised voice as he clapped his hands again and slapped them onto the floor, creating bindings to shoot up from the floor and wrap around the trembling man. "You see, I just couldn't see that between you killing completely innocent people and costing this country hundreds of thousands of dollars in collateral damage."

"I was supposed to change this country…save it. From people like _you two_. People who, who are too _blinded _by power to see what is really going on in this country! People are dying! People are always dying! Because of you! Because of all you people! And-!"

"And you're just another self-righteous hypocrite who thinks they know everything." Roy finished as he pulled off his glove and shoved it back into his pocket.

"No…"he moaned pathetically.

"Ugh…this guy is really starting to piss me off." Ed muttered as he ripped part of his jacket, wrapped it around his wound, and used it as a bandage. "How are we supposed to get him down there?"

"We could always throw him." Roy said as he peered over the edge.

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Ed said as he stood up.

"No Edward. I'll just get Riza to call Central Command and get them to clean up this mess for us."

"Sounds peachy." Ed grumbled as he sat down on a crate. "But how are _we_ supposed to get down? I'm not really in the mood to fight all of those ticked-off cronies that are waiting for us down there."

"Hmm…same we got up here I guess." Roy said as he moved to the opposite window and flung it open. "Fire escape."

Ed scrunched up his face in annoyance before he forced himself up and followed Roy down the rusty stairs.

"Ugh…you own me for this." Ed muttered as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Big time."

"I don't owe you anything. I didn't _force _you to come."

"Oh you're right, you didn't _force _me. No, you _begged _me to come and save you back."

"No way in Hell have I ever _begged _you to do anything! You came quit willingly if I remember right."

"Well then you remember wrong. Why the Hell would I _want _to do this?" Ed asked while motioning to his bleeding leg and then up to the smoldering roof top.

"I'll tell you why. It's because you couldn't live a simple boring life even if someone paid you a million dollars. Living an average life would kill you and that, Edward Elric, is something you'll never be able to deign."

"…Oh shut up why don't you. You're giving me a migraine."

* * *

_***sniff, sniff* **_**I'm not going to cry...**

**Oh my god, I can't believe this story is actually _finished... _holy crap. It's really hard to think about since this is my first published fic and now it's done. It's a really weird feeling, especially since I have never really finished a story before, even though my room is filled with stories that are all about half finished. Oh well...**

**But thank you all that have read my story and especially to those who had the time to leave a review for me to smile over. All of you guys have really upped my confidence levels and that makes me feel really, really good.**

**Even though this is the last chapter, this is no way near the end of my awesome-ness so stay tuned in because I promise you that I'll have plenty more stories to come.**

**I love all of you guys!**

**~Fun-Sized Kirk**


	19. Surprise Epilogue!

**Hello! Did you really think I was going to leave it at that? Well...I wasn't quit sure if I was or not so it's understandable if you did too.**

**Well here is the _real _last chapter of Working Vacation. So I hope you enjoy. I just finished this like five seconds ago so I hope it's good, I didn't really go over this chapter because I am so tired.**

* * *

"General Roy Mustang."

"Yes Sir." Roy said while saluting the man in front of him.

Roy had just gotten back to Central Command and was now standing in Major General Haruko's office, about to explain just what had happened over the pass few days. Needless to say, when Roy had shown up at Central Headquarters with one of the most wanted men in the country bong out next to him, there needed to be and explanation.

"General Mustang. You have shown up here today with one of the countries most wanted men at your side."

"That is correct sir."

"Yes-."

"Then what's the meaning of this interrogation you have set up against me? Is there something the matter with me doing my job?"

Haruko looked up from his seat and glared his sharp grey eyes into Roy's obsidian ones. Roy wasn't sure if there was anyone else he loathed more here and General Haruko.

"That is the problem. It _wasn't _your job. You were not assigned that assignment at all. It was not delegated to anyone under your command either. Most importantly, you were of the clock when you began to engage into this investigation! Even if you _were_ assigned this you should not have been doing work while you were very much off the clock. What do you have to say?"

"Hmm…nothing really." Roy said after a moment of thought.

"Really? You have nothing to say for your actions?"

"I don't see why I should have to excuse or apologize for what I did when I helped this country catch a criminal that was doing much harm."

"Well of course _you_ wouldn't think you were doing something wrong! You never seem to think you do the wrong thing! You never seem to think about the repercussions of your actions…but of course I blame it on the leniency you were giving under your old commander-."

"I don't see what dragging General Grunman into this conversation will do for either of us. Now if you don't mind, I would like to get back our original conversation before either of us says something we might regret."

"…right." Haruko said before clearing his throat and continuing on in his professional manner. "As I said before, you and your team were not only working while not on duty, but you were also working on an assignment that none of you were given.

"Now I won't ask who you had gotten the original information from, but I do ask how you had managed to take down an entire headquarter of criminal by _yourself._"

Roy remained silent. Should he tell Haruko about how he had recruited Ed and Al for this mission? He was already in severely hot water as it was but adding two civilians into his plan, now that was just begging for a court marshal.

"Well, General Mustang? I'm waiting. But before you begin you _riveting _story of incredible heroics, I must add that several men found many, many traces of transmutation at not only the site, but also on the head Boss. Now I know that he had dabbled in alchemy and I also know how _skilled _you are when it comes to alchemy, but there is no way that either of you could have done the damage that was at the site.

"I find I also must add that none of your subordinates are alchemically inclined so that means you either recruited a state alchemist that we were not aware of or you gained the help of someone else."

Roy swallowed. He was getting close. Why not just tell him and get it over with. That Boss would probably fess up and say that Edward had been there. So what did he have to lose? Either speak up and tell Haruko straight in his face or wait for him to drag it out of him.

"Oh, and I just remember something that I've been meaning to ask you for some time now. Why exactly did you go to the town of Resembool for a vacation? I wasn't aware that it was much of a vacation spot."

"We were going there to help celebrate a friend's birthday."

"And who exactly would that be?" he asked with a small smirk forming on his face.

"Edward Elric."

"Hmm…you mean the Edward Elric that was once the famed Full Metal alchemist?"

"Yes. And before you try to drag this _wonderful _conversation on any longer, I will admit that our ulterior motive for going was to try to gain some information on the terrorist attacks. We did not intend to recruit Elric into our mission but in the end, his assistance was…necessary."

"So…working on an unassigned mission, investigating while off the clock, involving civilians into the plan as well…hmm. What do you think would be a suitable punishment?"

Roy bit his tongue to stop himself from saying 'well I think this conversation was enough punishment if you ask me', and remained quiet. Spending too much time in Edward's company was never a good idea.

"Well seeing as if you keep your mouth shut about his, since this investigation was originally under _my_ command-,"

_Yeah, until you couldn't figure it out and then you gave it to someone else to figure out._

"-I think that I could go and take credit for this if you don't mind."

Roy dug his finger nails into his hands as he stared at Haruko's smug face. Oh how he wanted to punch that man like no other.

"So, if you and your little team keep it under raps, I see no reason we have to really punish you. You are dismissed."

Roy gave him a small nod before he got up and left the room as fast as possible. Once the door had closed behind him, Roy leaned against the wall and let out a deep breath that he had been holding in for some time now.

"Damn smug Bastard." He muttered as he rubbed his eyes.

"Now you know how I feel."

Roy opened his eyes and, to his immense surprise, saw that Edward was sitting on a bench in front of him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to say goodbye before I left. Me and Al already said bye to the guys. They said that you were busy getting chewed out at the moment."

"Oh."

"Yeah so…well I guess I just wanted to say it wasn't completely horrible seeing you guys again and helping you with stuff." Ed said as he got up from his seat.

"Wow thanks. I'm glad it wasn't _too_ horrible." Roy said with a small grin.

"Be quiet. But well, I was just saying that because well, I just thought I shouldn't just get up and leave without saying anything."

"Right. Well, I'll agree and say it wasn't all that horrible seeing your mug again."

"Uh huh. See ya."

Ed turned around and began walking down the hallway. Ed was about to turn down another hallway when he stopped and turned around.

"By the way, Al's birthday is in the summer."

"I'll try to remember that."

"Bye."

* * *

Ed and Al hopped down from the train and onto the platform at Resembool station. Ed let his bag drop to the ground before he raised his arms into the air to stretch.

"Ugh…you think with all of this new technology coming out they could find a more comfortable train seat."

"Well why don't you get right on that idea Ed." Al said as he picked up his brother's luggage so it wouldn't be trampled by the oncoming train goers. "I'm sure you could make some really great seats."

"Yeah right. I need a freaking break from work with all of that crap we just had to go through. Let's get back home so I can get some sleep."

"So how do you think Winry will take it?"

"Uh…let's not think about that right now." Ed said.

The two made their way slowly back to their home. As they dew closer to the large house in the distance, a cry broke through the quiet country side.

"EDWARD ELRIC!"

Ed instinctively flinched at the sound. He knew what was coming next and he knew by know that there was no point in trying to escape it.

WHAM!

Ed fell to the ground as a large silver wrench collided with the side of his head.

"Edward Elric, what he Hell where you doing!" Winry screamed as she made her way over to the two boys.

"Ugh…trust me Win, if I knew what I was getting in to, I probably wouldn't have agreed to go along with it." Ed muttered as he pulled himself from the ground while rubbing his now bleeding temple.

"And what do you have to say for yourself Mister?" she asked, rounding on Al.

"Same answer for me Winry. I'm done with all of that crazy military business."

Winry looked over the two sweating boys before she snatched her wrench from Ed's grasp, turned around and began walking back towards the house.

"well I think that's the best we can ever hope for." Al said turning to Ed.

"Yeah. Remember what she did when we came back with your body?"

"You mean what she did besides kiss you?" Al asked, causing Ed's face to redden.

"Shut up Al. Let's just get inside so I can get some proper sleep."

Al smiled at his brother as he followed him down the path and into the house.

* * *

**So that's the real end. Hope you enjoyed reading it! Please leave me a review for your secret present! :)**


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